Sycamore Leaves
/I took a pictures of sycamore leaves with holes through the window of my office. They are easy to find on the tree; I estimate that 25-30% of the leaves have noticeable holes. I looked at the pictures enlarged on my computer screen…searching for caterpillars…but didn’t find any. There are probably several different insects making the holes. Notice that sometimes the hole leaves the vein intact….other times the hole crosses a vein. Sycamore leaves are tougher than tulip polar and maple so it takes a caterpillar with stronger mouthparts to eat the leaves.
The tree seems to be mostly recovered from the damage of last spring (cold weather late in the spring) but there are still some dead branches and brown leaves from that time. They are increasingly covered with green leaves getting larger and larger as the summer progresses and new leaves are still forming on all the branch tips. Every time a thunderstorm comes through, we have some leaves on the ground. I walked around the deck and took pictures of some leaves that fell recently….and found holes in every one!
I also noticed that a branch broke in the upper part of the tree. It is too high to get down without a tree crew. It’s in our back yard so I am leaving it for the time being. I’ll watch it during the next storm. It appears to be firmly wedged in the other branches (i.e. going no where soon). If it falls, it will go on the yard or chaos garden….and it appears to be mostly leaves.
Unique Activities for Yesterday:
Interrupted lawn mowing. My husband tried to mow the grass between rainy days even though the ground was still very wet. He did the front and sides…then started on the back. It stays wet longer than other areas of our yard since water drains in that direction. He stopped about halfway through. Hopefully, he’ll be able to get it mowed before the rains from Isaias get to the Maryland area.
