honeydew

Late last week, I came across plantings of red maples (Acer rubrum) in a commercial landscape in southwest Ohio that were dripping sticky, sugary, honeydew; the calling card of phloem-sucking insects. A close look revealed the trees were festooned with Calico Scale (Eulecanium cerasorum) and European Fruit Lecanium (Parthenolecanium corni).

I recently came across a burr oak (Quercus macrocarpa) with leaves covered in clear, sticky honeydew. I could also feel fine droplets raining down as I stood beneath the canopy. Indeed, my camera lens collected so many tiny droplets I had to retreat to my car to clean it before taking more pictures.