G’day gang
Seeking opinions. Some of my exterior maple leaves look like they are growing mutated. Is this simply from sun or insect damage prior to them hardening off? We have had some 35c (95F) days with UV index of 12 most days until 3pm
Mutants (and I don’t mean the giant elm leaves trying to get in on the action)
Healthy
I get weird leaves like this part of the time and can’t really trace a cause. Sometimes the branch continues to have weird leaves for the season, while at other times it reverts to normal leaves.
Do you reckon there’s a heat correlation in your case?
I have not noticed a heat correlation, but there may be one. It is the odd tree or two out of many.
I was curious and image searching with no luck really… Then I was thinking about the foliage I have on one of mine its a “Krinkly” variety. There is a decent amount of sub-mutation of them “Krazy Krinkle” Kinky Krinkle”, ect..you get the point. I wonder if this is an attempt at mutation, almost like a witches broom but for what ever reason it’s adapted to seasonal attempts with the mutation being in the “first flush”? There was sone decent science to start the hypothesis then I was grasping for staws but it was more interesting to saying …maybe its a nutrient defencies.
So I’ve found that this response can be triggered by several things in the spring! One in particular is any type of herbicide like round-up, even very small amounts like wind drift! I’ve further discovered that other fertilizers and supplements can result in this behavior in new plant growth. I accidentally had a whole bench of newly repotted material sprayed with a root stimulator designed for transplanting that caused this effect in all the trees on that bench! Trees recovered by end of the season with regular foliage!
If the tree is healthy simply prune these deformed leaves off, the second flush is typically normal in my experience! .
