Also, when the new growth emerges, it's the brilliant red leaves that attract most people when they are looking for a plant to use in a hedgerow. Unfortunately, red tips are very prone to a fungus that sometimes causes most of those lovely leaves to drop off onto the ground. This fungal disease is Entomosporium leaf spot.
Red tips are particularly susceptible to it.
If they are not treated properly, infected plants can be defoliated. Those leaves that remain on the tree are usually covered with dark brown to black spots surrounded by reddish or purplish rings. The spots sometimes merge with others to form large, brown, dead areas on leaves. Soon afterwards, those leaves also may fall off. Although leaf spot is a definite threat to red tips growing in humid climates, there are some things that may prevent the fungus from ravaging your plants, according to James Blake, Extension plant pathologist and director of Clemson University's Plant Problem Clinic.