Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Untimely Leaf Drop

Falling leaves in June are cause for alarm if the leaves are from a beloved shade tree. After giving this hackberry a good lookover, I focused in on the leaves, twigs and petioles. A few leaves showed fungal spots, and growths caused by mites, but those leaves were hanging on tight.

The yellowed leaves had distorted petioles, and were the older of the leaves. The newer ones showed no problems.

Most of the affected leaves were already on the ground.


Right across the road is a field that has been sprayed for no-till planting. These fields usually have a herbicide cocktail that is a combination of burn down and pre-emergent chemicals. The wet weather this year has delayed farming, and I haven't been seeing the usual calls about herbicide drift. Hackberry is a tree with few disese or insect problems, and spraying would have normally been done before the leaves emerged on hackberry. This tree will be OK. Most of the leaves emerged after the chemical exposure, and they are looking fine.



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