What is happening to the leaves of my trees: Bug? Disease?

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Crimson Clarksville, TN(Zone 6b) Jun 25, 2007



This message was edited Jun 24, 2009 5:05 PM

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Crimson Clarksville, TN(Zone 6b) Jun 25, 2007

The tops of the leaf at the bump areas is sunken in...

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Crimson Clarksville, TN(Zone 6b) Jun 25, 2007

It's very ugly! The trees look sick, what should I do?

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ViburnumValley Scott County, KY(Zone 5b) Jun 25, 2007

This is one of those instances where you really shouldn't do anything.

You have a common hackberry tree (Celtis occidentalis), which is native over a good part of eastern North America including TN. The bumps you see forming on the leaves is due to the activities of an itinerant local insect, the hackberry nipple gall maker.

Not the most attractive name, nor the most attractive results for the looks of the plant. This is normal for this part of the world, however, and it happens seasonally every summer. The trees go on growing fine, just a little more bumpy for the rest of the summer. I am not at home by my insect textbook; if you don't find information about this insect elsewhere, I'd be happy to post more about it. I bet a google search (or BugFiles!) would turn up volumes.

If you are having the same droughty conditions that we are having here in central KY, then your hackberries are going to look even more hang-dog as the summer progresses. They are one of the earliest trees (along with walnut) to give up on the growing season as things dry out, and start shedding leaves. I grew up with about 30 of these trees; by August the yard was always covered with dried brown bumpy husks of leaves. I have many hackberry on my current property. We've been very dry, and yellow leaves have been periodically dropping for weeks.

Hackberries just shrug off what the Ohio River valley region throws at them, and just keep on growing. They are one tough tree.

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