07/20/2026
Are you seeing what we are seeing? Many of the maple trees in the area are developing unsightly black leaf spots, and the foliage is turning brown and dropping rapidly.
This aesthetic damage is caused by a combination of the fungal pathogens ‘tar spot’ and ‘anthracnose’. Tar spots, raised black spots on the upper surfaces of maple leaves, appear on maples in early summer as light green or pale-yellow spots. As the season progresses, the yellow color intensifies to black tar-like spots. Tar spot alone is rarely serious enough to be detrimental to the overall health of infected trees. But as the infection progresses, trees become unsightly. If infected maple leaves begin to crinkle and turn brown, anthracnose, another common disease of maple, may also be present.
You can reduce the number of overwintering fungi by raking and destroying infected leaves in the fall. The application of fungicides is not practical because complete coverage of all infected leaf surfaces is necessary, and that can be extremely difficult and costly.
