Plant Diseases - Locust Tree

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Plant Diseases - Locust Tree
Expert: Jim Hyland - 8/5/2007

Question
Our Locust Tree leaves are turning yellow and falling off, like it is fall and it is only August. The tree is 7 years old. What would cause the leaves to turn yellow and fall off?

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Answer
We often see a lot of leaf drop in June as a result of the increasing heat and dryness. Leaves (leaflets on the locust tree) that were produced under cooler conditions are often dropped by the tree as wind and heat increase water loss by the tree. This is just the tree's water conservation technique. If a lot of leaves are falling, the problem may be the result of improper irrigation or due to the tree conserving water.

I would not worry about locust dropping leaves this late in the year many leaf spots diseases infect leaves late causing leaf drop. The vast majority of a tree's growth is in the spring and in late summer they start shutting down the growth getting ready for the winter. Leaf spot diseases since they do not cause much damage to the tree are not normally treated and if they were the treatment would have to be done in the spring as soon as any spots were seen. If you are concerned that the tree is dying start near the end of a branch and scrape a small bit of bark off. The color under the bark should be green meaning the tree is alive just lost its leaves. If the color under the bark is brown then the branch is dead. I would expect that you will find the tree is still alive and has prematurely dropped its leaves. To reduce the amount of fungi spores for the next year I would rake up the leaves and destroy them. This will help the amount of leaf problems next year.

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