My Chestnut Tree Looks Unhealthy. What can I do About it?

Do the leaves of your chestnut tree have irregular brown spots?

Do the leaves of your chestnut have brown, dry edges?

Is your chestnut tree planted in an area surrounded by pavement?

Do the leaves of your chestnut have a powdery, white coating?

Are some of the leaves of your chestnut skeletonized?

On closer inspection, can you see yellow caterpillars with clumps of white hair on their backs?

Have the leaves and shoots of your chestnut blackened and do the leaves have moist sunken spots on them?

Do the trunk or the branches have oozing lesions on them?

Is the chestnut defoliated with branches carrying cocoon-like bags?

Irregular brown spots on chestnut leaves are caused by a fungal disease - leaf blotch. Leaf blotch may spread over the leaves of the entire tree and even lead to defoliation. To protect your tree, cut off all affected leaves and clean up and destroy fallen leaves to remove overwintering spores.

Heat reflected from pavement often causes leaf scorch. Reduce heat emitting from the pavement by adding more plants around the chestnut tree or by painting the pavement in a darker color.

Brown, dry edges on the leaves is often caused by a lack of water in the ground. During dry and hot seasons, make sure that your soil is watered often and evenly moist.

White, powdery patches on the leaves and fruits are caused by a fungal disease - powdery mildew. Powdery mildew usually appears in damp places. Encourage good air circulation around the chestnut by thinning any surrounding plants. Keep foliage dry when watering. Affected leaves should be cut off and removed.

Whitemarked tussock moths feed on leaves and leave only the veins uneaten. Control the numbers of these caterpillars by scraping off and destroying patches of their eggs when you see them. With serious infestations, you'll have to use insecticides to deal with these caterpillars.

Japanese beetles feed on chestnut leaves and leave only the veins uneaten. They are half an inch long metallic blue-green insects. Simply knock these beetles off of the leaves when you see them.

These symptoms are caused by fungal disease - anthracnose. This disease causes problems to trees mostly during cool and wet springs. In severe cases, twigs can die back and defoliation can occur. All diseased leaves and branches should be gathered and disposed of. Cut the branches several inches below the damaged area. Larger trees will produce new leaves, so no control is needed in this case.

Oozing lesion on chestnuts are caused by cankers. Cankers can be caused by several different kinds of fungi. Mildly affected plants will recover if you remove and destroy all affected branches. Heavily affected plants can't be cured and you should remove the whole plant. Avoid damaging your plant with lawnmowers, trimmers or pruning tools because such damage spots are often where cankers start.

Bagworms are causing these symptoms. They are small, brown caterpillars that feed on the areas inside the silky, white bags they create. Handpick and destroy all the bags. If you notice crawling caterpillars, you may have to use insecticide as they are really hard to get rid of.

Many environmental problems can cause chestnuts to look unhealthy. Make sure you grow your chestnut in moist, well-drained soil, rich in organic matter. If you're growing a chestnut tree, plant it in an area where it can receive full sunlight. If you're growing a chestnut shrub it can do well even in partial shade.