Crabapple Brown Leaves

Hi

I have what i believe is a Malus sargentii crabapple. I've noticed that some of the leaves have brown spots. Does anyone have an idea what may be causing this? Possibly under/over-watering disease? Thanks for looking.



some of the other leaves have a more dark purple color as you can see more toward the center of the image below (sorry there is not a close up of this)

I don't grow Crab, but this looks like fungus. The best defense is good hygiene; remove dead or damaged leaves as soon as you see them. There are chemical solutions but the best solution is good air circulation, space between plants, good control of water, and hygiene.

Could be the apple half of cedar apple rust or similar fungus. Do you have junipers growing in your neighborhood?

Billy is right. Remove and destroy the leaves. Try not to water the foliage when you water your trees.

Thanks I will remove all the infected leaves and will try to water just the soil. The only juniper that we have in our neighborhood is my shimpaku.

If you don't mind me asking, what is the issue with junipers?

Google Cedar Apple Rust

Cedar apple rust has to have two hosts -- Juniperus and Malus. On apples it show up as patched of orange or brown on the leaves and spotty fruit. On juniper, it starts out as hard orange galls on the leaves and branches that mature into jelly like globs of goo. If the two genera are "close" to one another, they trade spores.

Dunno how close is close, because my woods and pasture edges are filled with J. virginiana -- hence, I don't grow apples for fruit, though I have a couple of Japanese crabapple bonsai that I keep close watch on.

Unfortunately, apple and pear-trees are very sensitive to various diseases, often called "tavelure" as a generic common name in French ("scab" in English ?), but there are many different fungal infections that can give the same symptoms.

It's nearly impossible to have healthy trees, and fruit, without the use of chemicals.

For organic cultivation, nettle,horsetail, and algae are used.

I've already made "purin d'ortie" ("nettle liquid manure"), it's excellent as a fertilizer also, and a good pest control product, but it stinks so much !!!

I'm back to environment-destroying techniques (well, anyway, compared to the tons of chemùicals they use in my region...) and sulphur in autumn and before bud-break is the most efficient solution I've found so far.