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Extension > Garden > Diagnose a problem > What's wrong with my plant? > Deciduous > Buckeye > Leaf edges brown, center remains green

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Buckeye > Leaves > Leaf edges brown, center remains green

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  • Image: Eastern Tent Caterpillar 1
  • Image: Eastern Tent Caterpillar 2
  • Image: Eastern Tent Caterpillar 3

Leaf scorch

  • Leaf margins turn reddish brown and may curl
  • More noticeable in last half of summer
  • Most common on leaves exposed to sun and wind than sheltered leaves
  • Severely affected leaves drop prematurely
  • More information on Leaf scorch
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  • Image: Fall Webworm 1
  • Image: Fall Webworm 2
  • Image: Fall Webworm 3

Verticillium wilt
Verticillium dahliae and V. albo-atrum

  • Leaves are small and yellowed in chronic infections
  • Leaves turn brown from the edges and tips, wilt and die in severe infections
  • Leaf symptoms are often seen on only one or a few random branches in the canopy
  • Dark olive to gray streaks are often visible in the sapwood if the bark is peeled back, appearing as rings or arcs in a cross section
  • Symptoms may develop over a single season, or over several years
  • More information on Verticillium wilt
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  • Image: Eastern Tent Caterpillar 1
  • Image: Eastern Tent Caterpillar 2
  • Image: Eastern Tent Caterpillar 3

Armillaria root rot
Armillaria spp.

  • Infected trees have poor growth, dead branches in the upper canopy, undersized and/or yellow leaves
  • Flat white sheets of fungal growth (mycelial fans) between the bark and sapwood at the base of infected trees
  • Thick black, shoestring-like fungus can sometimes be seen under the bark, around roots and in the soil around the base of the tree
  • Wood is decayed, white, soft and spongy; this may extend from the base of the tree well up into the trunk
  • Trees frequently break or fall over in storms
  • Clusters of honey-colored mushrooms may grow at the base of the tree in fall
  • More information on Armillaria root rot
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  • Image: Fall Webworm 1
  • Image: Fall Webworm 2
  • Image: Fall Webworm 3

Ganoderma root rot
Ganoderma applanatum

  • Leaves are small, turn yellow and drop prematurely
  • Canopy appears thin with few leaves and multiple dead branches
  • Fungal conks, semicircle shelf fungi, can be found from the base of the tree up to 3 feet high on the trunk
  • Conks are reddish brown and shiny on top, white and porous underneath, a rim of white may be visible on the edge of the growing conks
  • Infected wood at the base of the tree is white, soft, stringy or spongy
  • Infected trees frequently break or fall over in storms
  • More information on Ganoderma root and butt rot

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