Swamp Oak Rust on Leaves

Chicago, IL(Zone 6a)

Hi:

We have a swamp oak that we started growing about 5 or 6 years ago from a little bare stick and now it has grown quite a bit - I believe its about 15 feet high and maybe four or five feet wide. The leaves are hand sized and very pretty and its been a good tree, however, sometime starting in late June or early July, the leaves on one half of the tree (facing West) started developing these rust spots on them and the leaves also started to curl a bit. I figured this would be something the tree might work out, but now it has pretty much effected all the leaves on the West side of the tree, whereas the East side of the tree is fine (the East side does not get as much sun as the West side).

Can anyone help me? I will try and post a picture of the damage. Does anyone know what this might be? If its life threatening to the tree? and Is there anything I can do about it?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Minneapolis, MN(Zone 5a)

How much moisture is the tree getting? Swamp White Oak likes the soil to be very moist - hence its common name. It could be something other than just dry soil, however. I would take some of the leaves to one of your county extension agents. They can diagnose the problem for you. They will do it for free, since that's what they are there for.

Good luck,
Mike

Chicago, IL(Zone 6a)

What is a county extension agent? We have had lots of rain her and we water it, but maybe we should water it more often.

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