Bumpy Maple Leaves? Gall Mites Might Be The Problem
Have you seen these bumps on your Maple trees? (Hope not!) Red, unattractive bumps, or ‘galls’ luckily do not cause damage to your trees, but sure look like they do! These red protrusions are caused by an insect such as the Bladder Gall Mite, or a Spindle Gall Mite which are found to be lurking around your trees early in the spring season. The red bumps are a result of the mites chewing on the tree leaves specifically in the growing season. These mites are aiming to stimulate new tissue growth in which they lay, and hatch their eggs. When the leaf is affected the symptomatic result is a chemically induced mass growth of abnormal cells. Funny enough, these little pests only affect three types of Maple Trees , Red Maple, Sugar Maple, and Whitebark Maple. Though the health of the host tree is rarely affected, the visual (cosmetic) health of the tree is commonly associated as poor with an infestation. For this reason, Melbourne Tree Removal Guys gets requests often to reduce the ...