Maple leaves falling in June! Help!

[Pete S]

I know there is nothing that I can do but noticed that we have quite a few of our maple leaves falling to the grou8nd, and it's JUNE!

I've looked at several and noticed about 1/2" of stem on the leaf, and the "cut" end of the leaf stem is blackened.

What is going awn! The leaves themselves are nice a green and supple.

Thanks!

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

woooooooooooohoooooooooooooooooget the tubing ran almost time to tap:D

[Typical8]

Ouch- You got a bug. Get some of the fallen leaves and take them to the County Extention office and see if they know what you have.

We had a leaf roller come through our area about 10 years ago and lost 50% of our maple leaves by mid summer. Next year everything was fine.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Ouch- You got a bug. Get some of the fallen leaves and take them to the County Extention office and see if they know what you have.

leaf roller .

as u have prob fig out first comment was a SA comment, but on a serious note what is a "leaf Roller" beinga flatlander never have heard that one

[Tom Cook]

The culprit is the maple petiole borer. The "petiole" is a part of the leaf; more particulary the stem that attaches the leaf blade to the tree.

An adult sawfly lays its eggs on maple petioles in May. The eggs hatch, and the larvae - a small caterpillar-like creature - tunnels into the petiole and eats all the tissue inside the petiole. This weakened petiole is easily broken, and the result is that the leaf drops off.

Maple leaves on the ground usually still have attached a short part of the petiole, which normally is black and shriveled.

Sometime after the leaves fall to the ground, the larvae, which are still in the attached part of the petiole, fall to the ground and pupate.

Though petiole borers can cause a great deal of concern, they do no harm to the tree. It's just a cosmetic problem that will go away in a of couple weeks.

[Pete S]

Tom, did you stop by my place and look? That is EXACTLY what I have!

Thanks!

As bad as I feel for the trees, glad to hear this will pass.

Thanks again!

[Typical8]

Around here if someone calls you a Flatlander you're going to punch him in the face.

OK -The leaf roller did exactly that, the bug got on the leafs and they rolled up like cigars. This caused us to loose most of the leaf cover, so the summer sun scalled the woods floor covering.... the ferns and other vegetation got fried. I don't think this was a bad thing as maybe a few woodticks got fried too and some unwanted stuff died. Just leave Mother Nature alone and let her do her thing.

[jimsudz]

Sorry to change the topic but it seems Tom Cook has the right answer.I have a question about my white oaks, the saplings are 5 years old and the leaves look like swiss cheese. The red oaks right next to them are fine. I don't see any bugs or caterpillars. Any thoughts? Thanks Jim

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

No idea. Try different insectacides
my cousin a few years ago had a flight of gypsy moths fly through and they ate all the leaves off every tree around. they sprayed his sugarbush and all the neighboring ones. driving around up there you could look out across the countryside and see where all the sugar camps were.