There is something seriously wrong with my chestnut tree

My chestnut tree's leaves are brown and shriveled up. The fruit pods are abnormally small. I've noticed other chestnuts in my area look the same. Any one know what this is or what I can do to help it?

Drought (either last year or this year)?

Otherwise, not sure if the fungal disease Guignardia aesculi occurs in North America; it has symptoms somewhat like this. It doesn't cause significant damage though, only a very minor disease.

Resin

PS for clarification - your tree is a Horse-chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum, not a chestnut Castanea.

Thank you Resin. We went 3 weeks without rain and it's been very humid. Will my horse-chestnut bounce back if it is drought related? We've been getting some rain in the last week or so, not a lot. The tree is 4 or more years old and this is the first time I've seen this.

Should be OK, they can recover well even from defoliation, though it'll only look good again with the new leaves next spring.

Resin

That's good to know. Thanks again!

I haven't been around the bird watching forum in a while, I'll have to come by and see what's been going on!

I don't know how other Aesculus species behave, but out here A. californicum is already starting to dry up and get ready to lose its leaves. The first year I lived out here I really thought the trees were dying, their leaves never get any fall color or anything, they dry up and turn brown in August, then the dried up dead looking leaves hang on to the tree into the fall, then eventually they drop off. Then when they came back the next year I realized that's just how they behave. A. californica is a CA native though and it's early deciduous behavior is an adaptation to our climate where there's no summer rain, so species that are native to wetter climates may not have that same behavior.

Late summer leaf scorch is pretty common in the eastern species of Aesculus as well. A few good hot and windy days last week was enough to start browning the leaves on my Aesculus pavia tree and it gets shade about half the day. It will drop all of its leaves within the next couples of weeks or so, but it will leaf out (and flower) just fine next spring.

This message was edited Jul 30, 2008 9:58 PM

Interesting ecrane, I know mine is never pretty come fall, but I noticed this about a week ago. Seemed awfully early. How about the nuts? Do you get a lot of nuts even though the leaves fall early?

KSBaptisia, I'm glad I can look forward to a healthy tree next year. I didn't want to neglect it if there was something I could be doing for it.

Thanks for all the replies!

I don't have one in my garden (because they look so ugly for half the year), the ones I see are growing out in the wild. But from what I've seen, they still produce plenty of nuts (but since this isn't a true chestnut, they're not edible for humans so really all they would do for you is make a mess!)

Yeah, Aesculus generally aren't very attractive in the fall, but the compensation is that they leaf out nearly a month before any other tree around here (important after a long winter) and the flower display is hard to match for a temperate tree.

I agree with the flower display - plus it really keeps the squirrels busy and away from my garden in the fall.