We planted a Heritage River Birch in the fall and it seemed to fair well through the winter and early spring but....I have just noticed something strange going on with some of the leaves throughout the tree. They seem to be "puckering" and have rusty brown spotting on them. Should I be concerned?
Puckers are probably leaf galls. If you are seeing other spotting that might be river birch leaf blight. Tree should not have bright yellow color either, could be wrong soil/water minerals or pH for it there.
I have now noticed ladybugs all over this tree and the back of the "puckered" leaves have a white powdery (almost mealy) substance in the crevices that the ladybugs seem to be attracted to. What should I do?
please help me!!! It is getting worse every day. More and more of the puckering is happening. I think the mealy/powdery stuff must be some kind of insect eggs. The leaves that are affected are turning yellow, puckering with the mealy stuff on the underside of the leaf. What do I need to do? Is my tree in jeopardy?
Trees can generally survive a year of almost complete defoliation, and yours is nowhere near that (so, no, it isn't in jeopardy). If no one can help you here, you can (as an alternative) take a sample to your local county extension office for diagnosis and help.
