At the end of May I lamented that my backyard was dry and cracked while 27 counties in Pennsylvania were under a Drought Watch.
Conditions have changed significantly.
From a May rain deficit of 1.23 inches, Pittsburgh now has a surplus of 2.00″ in the first 23 days of June. (Normal in Pittsburgh is 3.95″ for May and 3.30″ to the 23rd of June.) Yes it’s wet!
Around western Pennsylvania it’s wet elsewhere, too. New Castle got 2.32″ in yesterday’s storms alone! Johnstown is 6.5″ above normal for the month (300% of normal) and Dubois stands at 1.85″ above normal for June 23.
The wet weather has caused flash floods, flooded basements and another more subtle problem: fungus.
On Monday I noticed that the tulip trees in Schenley Park and at Phipps’s outdoor garden have brown curled leaves at the top. Worried that we had another forest pest on our hands I emailed this photo to Phil Gruszka, my favorite tree expert at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. He says its anthracnose.
Anthacnose is a group of fungi that infect shade trees, usually browning their leaves but sometimes infecting their twigs, bark and fruit. Each tree species has its own specific fungus pest. The one that infects tulip trees attacks the leaves.
In large stands of trees there’s no practical treatment for anthracnose. Though it may weaken the trees it doesn’t kill them outright and they get a respite if the weather changes. The fungi go away when it’s dry.
When will it be dry? … Do we dare ask that question?
p.s. Libby in New Castle, Marianne in Dubois area, and Marcy in Indiana County, how’s the weather out there?
(photo by Kate St. John)
Thank you for this posting. I was wondering what was happening to the tulip tree in our backyard.
Soggy…..mowed grass even though the ground was wet on Monday, but it was wet under the surface… yesterday was the first semi-dry day…last weekend we got 9 inches in 2.5 days, then it was about an inch to 2+ with each new day of rain…needless to say, the ground is saturated and wish I had my native shrubs and garden in…it was way too hot and dry and now you can’t even get out to work….today is perfect and cooler and a nice breeze….a good day to try to get the garden planted…I wear clogs, so at least when you step in a wet area, you don’t have soaking feet all day…it would be nice to share the rain for the rest of the summer and fall…I could have used about 10 more of the 600 cisterns….ours has been overflowing for weeks now…drought or drown….
Thanks for the news, Marcy. So soggy!