Guides

Black spots on maple leaves can look serious, especially when they spread across the canopy or make the tree look diseased. In many cases, black spots on maple leaves are more of a leaf-level or cosmetic issue than an immediate tree-risk problem. But homeowners should still look at the whole tree before deciding it is harmless.

Maple tree leaves can turn brown for many reasons. Sometimes the problem is heat, drought, or normal seasonal stress. Other times, browning can point to leaf scorch, poor watering, compacted soil, root damage, girdling roots, pests, fungal leaf spots, construction injury, or broader decline.

A tree canker is an area of dead, damaged, or diseased bark and underlying tissue on a trunk, branch, or stem. To homeowners, it may look like a sunken patch, cracked bark, an oozing wound, a dark stain, peeling bark, or a dead-looking section on one side of the tree.

White pine trees are known for their soft-looking needles, graceful branching, and tall evergreen form. They can be beautiful shade and screening trees, but homeowners often do not know they have one until needles start browning, branches drop, cones appear, or the tree begins crowding a roof, driveway, fence, or utility area.

Crape myrtle, also spelled crepe myrtle, is one of the most recognizable flowering trees in many warm-climate yards. It is known for bright summer flowers, smooth peeling bark, small oval leaves, seed capsules, and often a multi-stem shape. But homeowners do not always know what they have until the tree needs pruning, starts dropping bark, develops black residue, or gets cut back too hard.

Ash trees can be valuable shade trees, but homeowners often do not know they have one until a branch drops, leaves thin out, or an insect problem raises questions. Identifying an ash tree starts with a few simple clues: opposite branching, compound leaves, bark pattern, seed clusters, overall shape, and where the tree is growing.

Arborvitae turning brown can worry homeowners because these evergreens are often planted for privacy, screening, and curb appeal. When one tree in a row starts browning, the whole landscape can look damaged. Sometimes the browning is normal interior shedding. Other times it may point to drought stress, overwatering, poor drainage, pests, winter injury, root damage, crowding, or a planting problem.