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Thursday, October 23, 2025

Why Leaves Flip Black Below Tree of Heaven


Noticed lanternfly honeydew under ailanthus tree turns black with sooty mould, Schenley, 25 Aug 2023 (picture by Kate St. John)

27 August 2023

In Schenley Park’s Panther Hole there are solely a handful of Ailanthus altissima bushes (Tree of Heaven) which I hardly ever paid consideration to till not too long ago. A few weeks in the past I seen that the crops and floor beneath these bushes had been moist, although it had not rained. This week the leaves and floor are black. Each phenomena are a by-product of the noticed lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) invasion.

Noticed lanternflies on a tree trunk, one egg mass under them (picture by Emelie Swackhamer, Penn State College, Bugwood.org)

Noticed lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula) are sucking bugs that pierce the bark of their host plant, Ailanthus, and sip the sugary phloem that travels from the leaves to the remainder of the plant. (Phloem movement is orange within the diagram under.)

Movement of xylem and phloem in crops (picture from Wikimedia Commons)

Every little thing that eats excretes and noticed lanternflies are not any exception. Their watery “poop” is known as honeydew as a result of it is filled with sugar.

video embedded from Bug of the Week on Youtube

If there have been only some lanternflies we’d by no means discover the honeydew however when a big quantity coat a tree the honeydew is difficult to overlook, particularly for the customers of honeydew: bees, wasps, hornets, ants and butterflies.

Butterfly sips on noticed lanternfly honeydew (picture by Rebekah D. Wallace, College of Georgia, Bugwood.org)
European hornet sips lanternfly honeydew (picture by Rebekah D. Wallace, College of Georgia, Bugwood.org)

Sugary honeydew ultimately grows sooty mould. Every little thing with honeydew on it turns black.

Sooty mould is a fungus that seems as a black, sooty progress on leaves, branches and, typically, fruits. It’s non-parasitic and never notably dangerous to crops aside from being unpleasant. Probably, it might have an effect on the plant’s capability to make use of the solar for photosynthesis. For those who can rub the black progress off together with your fingers, it’s most likely sooty mould. For those who can not rub it off, it’s most certainly one thing else.

Univ of Hawaii Grasp Gardener Program: FAQ, Sooty mould

Sooty mould on vegetation beneath Ailanthus tree (picture by Richard Gardner, Bugwood.org), yellow circle added
Noticed lanternfly honeydew under ailanthus tree turned black with sooty mould, Schenley, 25 Aug 2023 (picture by Kate St. John)

Finally white mould might cowl the honeydew. I haven’t seen this but however I’m waiting for it.

Noticed lanternfly honeydew grows mould (picture by Lawrence Barringer, Pennsylvania Division of Agriculture, Bugwood.org)

Will we ever be freed from noticed lanternflies? Sure! Take a look at this weblog This, Too, Shall Cross.

(picture credit are within the captions with hyperlinks to the originals)

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