Black Spots on Maple Trees

J

Joseph Kellum

Location
New Salisbury
Hello,
I have three maple trees in my front yard of a house I just moved into. I live in the Southern tip of Indiana. The trees have small black spots on the bark, mainly on the trunk. It looks and feels similar to a dried tar substance. I really want to do what I can to heal these trees. Any thoughts on what this is and what can be done? Hopefully you can see the images attached.
image1.jpg

image2.jpg

image4.jpg
 
It'd be good to see above that point too. And a pic of the roots coming off the trunk.
How did the trees look in leaf?
Could be a few different culprits.
 
They looked very healthy. I didn't notice any dead leaves or limbs. To the common person (myself) I would say they looked normal. I will try and post above and below photos tomorrow. These photos aren't the best examples, but show leaves from August and the fall (they are all I have on my computer at the moment and I didn't know I had a problem at that time)
Thanks for the reply and the help! I very much appreciate it.
Fall_Trees.jpg

Fall_Trees_2.jpg

Spring_Trees.jpg
 
I'd agree with Guy, could be a few quite different things. I expect Phytopthora staining to look more like fluid has oozed out and run with gravity, even if the stain and canker are dry. Could be, TL might have it. I also expect the color to be a bit brownier for Phytopthora.
Sort of similar staining can come from wholly superficial sooty molds and "black yeasts" that can colonize frothy or alcohol fluxes. To me, and the images are just too far back to tell for sure, might the staining actually be the thin carbonaceous crust of some of the Xylariaceous fungi? These have been split into various groups, but I first learned them as Xylaria and Hypoxylon. Is the wood and associated tissues still alive beneath them? I'm curious about the flakiness of the bark in the bottommost picture, makes me question whether that arc of the stem circumference is happy tree tissue.
Sorry not to be more help. A close look with a magnifying glass would readily confirm or deny the Xylaria (in a broad sense) hypothesis.
 
Thanks KT. As if I didn't have enough hobbies, now this research has me interested in wild mushrooms. I know I know, it's an offshoot of this but I can't help it. I'm a little ADHD. :)

So back on track... I looked at the link you provided KT, and I've seen this many times around here on Quercus laurifolia. Most that I've seen were near-dead or already-dead and we removed them. The wood and bark was harder than normal, almost like concrete in spots. It was even tough to get the spikes in when climbing on occasion. Normally black wasn't the color I noticed but more light gray. Like this:
2651049.jpg

But when looking closer at the photo I can see the black fungi in there.

The photos from the OP certainly look more like Xylaria than Phytophthora now that I've given a better look. Especially how dry they are and how the bark is sloughing off.

Hypoxylon or Phytopthora: pretty much a death sentence either way though, huh?
And to sum it up, Phytophthora is blackish brown with oozing, whereas the Hypoxylon is darker black and crustier?
 
Hypoxylon or Phytopthora; both quite treatable with sanitation and invigoration. Sadly pessimistic take on P in a recent TCIA article. The writer hadn't consulted Sinclair's 2nd edition. Give trees a chance!

Your 'concrete' description in laurifolia sounds like the petrification that happens with q virginiana too.

I think we lost the OP.
 
guymayor said:
Hypoxylon or Phytopthora; both quite treatable with sanitation and invigoration. Sadly pessimistic take on P in a recent TCIA article. The writer hadn't consulted Sinclair's 2nd edition. Give trees a chance!

Your 'concrete' description in laurifolia sounds like the petrification that happens with q virginiana too.

I think we lost the OP.
Click to expand...
Guy, the ones I've seen were pretty far gone, if not totally gone, so saving them wasn't an option. But I'd certainly like to when possible. I'm guessing it has to be caught early? Can you give some links on sanitation and invigoration? Thanks.
 
ok here ya go: “Those
black droplets are coming out of ‘bleeding lesions.’ It
looks like a soil-borne organism, such as Phytophthora sp.,
is colonizing the phloem tissues under the bark. ... This pest should be
managed with IPM treatments aimed at compartmentalization.”
I flipped through pages 354–367 of my book on
diseases[Sinclair]. “‘Remove soil from stem tissue, dry the area,
deeply aerate nearby soil, clean and heat the lesions, and
amend the soil with calcium fertilizer and beneficial
microorganisms to help speed compartmentalization.’”
3 reviewers out of 13 asked about this, but agreed after reviewing sources.
“To realize that you do not understand, is a virtue,”
Ru noted, quoting the Tao Te Ching....
 
Although superficially similar, perhaps, the actual pathology of Phytopthora is quite different from Hypoxylon. Has anyone successfully treated Hypoxylon (using the name in a broad way) with sanitation methods? I think that is what the OP was about, wasn't it?
 
successfully, well, that depends on your time frame....stalled, yes. Not claiming miracles, but that early data from TX has prompted me to schedule some injections next month. With invigoration as always.

The OP wasn't diagnosed, so who knows what that was about? btw I like the way that 1995 brochure for the most part holds up well 20 years later!

TL, same here--most cases I see are too advanced to treat. did you find the referenced pages in the Diseases book?
 
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