• The silver poplar, also called the white poplar, is a tree that originally came from Europe and Asia. Silver poplars are beautiful well-liked ornamental trees. They can grow to be 70 feet tall. Silver poplars are susceptible to certain diseases that affect the tree's leaves, branches and trunk.
  
  

Powdery Mildew

• Powdery mildew is a common fungal disease that appears during warm and dry weather. This fungus causes the top side of the leaves to exhibit a white coating. The leaves will be distorted and often fall off the silver poplar tree before they should.
  
  Sometimes the buds and flowers of the tree become infected with powdery mildew. If the buds are infected with this fungus, they may never open. Even though powdery mildew disease may result in affecting the tree's appearance, it usually does no major damage to the silver poplar tree's overall health.
  
  Cleaning up the debris under your silver poplar tree may prevent the appearance of powdery mildew again because this fungus typically lives there. It can survive during the winter in a pile of fallen leaves and twigs to infect the silver poplar tree again in the spring.
  
  

Marssonia Leaf Spot

• Marssonia leaf spot causes brown spots to appear on the leaves of a silver poplar. Like the powdery mildew fungus, marssonia leaf fungus can also survive during the winter in debris under the tree. In the spring, it releases spores that may infect the surrounding trees. It gets onto the leaves when they first appear. The disease appears on the lower branches. If the tree is infected, it could lose all its leaves by August. A tree that loses all its leaves may not grow as much new wood the next two years.
  
  

Wood Rot

• Wood rot can be a bad problem for the silver poplar and for many other kinds of trees, as well. This fungus produces fruiting structures near the bottom of the tree. Then this fungus starts to destroy the inner portion of the tree. The inside of the tree can rot and not show any signs of a problem on the outside of the tree except for the appearance of the fungi bodies. Several different kinds of fungus can cause the wood rot. The life cycle of each type is different. If you suspect that your silver poplar has a fungus causing wood rot, it should be closely watched especially in bad weather because the tree could fall with no warning.