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Extension > Garden > Diagnose a problem > What's wrong with my plant? > Deciduous > Serviceberry > Leaves discolored and wilted

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Serviceberry > Leaves > Leaves discolored and wilted

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  • Image: Black Rot 1
  • Image: Black Rot 2
  • Image: Black Rot 3

Fire blight
Erwinia amylovora

  • Infected leaves wilt, turn gray then dark brown to black
  • Young shoots wilt into a shepherd's crook
  • Infected blossoms first turn gray, then black
  • Infected leaves and mummified fruit remain attached to the tree, often into winter
  • Branch cankers have dark, sunken and cracked bark, sapwood is streaked reddish brown
  • Drops of sticky honey-colored liquid can be seen on infected plant parts in warm wet weather
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  • More information on fire blight
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  • Image: White Rot 1
  • Image: White Rot 2

Juniper broom rust
Gymnosporangium nidus-avis

  • Leaf spots start as small yellow to orange spots with a red border and grow into large brown blotches with red margins
  • Swollen yellow spots on leaf veins, petioles and green twigs
  • Young shoots and leaves can turn completely brown due to a girdling infection on twig or petiole
  • White tube-shaped spore producing structures form on infected twigs, petioles and the lower surface of leaf spots in July
  • More information on Juniper broom rust
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  • Image: Fire Blight 1

Black witches' broom
Apiosporina collinsii

  • Witches' brooms, clusters of numerous weak shoots arising from one point on a branch, occur randomly throughout the tree
  • Dark, olive colored spots of fungal fruiting bodies on underside of leaves
  • Leaves within witches' brooms are first yellow and stunted, turn black
  • Common in wooded, shaded and moist areas
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  • Image: White Rot 1
  • Image: White Rot 2
  • Image: White Rot 3

Blister canker
Biscogniauxia marginata

  • Dead branches in the canopy
  • Elongate, darkened canker on trunk or branch often centered on a crack or wound
  • Reddish brown discoloration of sapwood extending up and down from crack or wound
  • Round flat gray to black fungal spore producing structures up to ¼ inch across, push through bark on infected branches
  • Bark often peels back in rolls on infected branches
  • Most common on drought stressed, wounded trees
  • More information on Blister canker

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