Emma,

With the sycamore tree, the first thing that comes to mind is the possibility that the tree has anthracnose, which often is described in the early stages as looking like frost damage.

I've linked some info on it below.

With the tree that has two kinds of leaves, can you give us another clue. What kind of shapeS do the leaves have? And, are the differing leaves on the same limbs?

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Sycamore Trees and Anthracnose

Emma,

If I were to guess, and I guess I am, then I would say that the tree with two leaves is a Mulberry.

Use Google or Bing images to do a search for Mulberry and see if they look like the leaves on your tree.

I have lots of Mulberrys in the woods around my house and I noticed a few years ago the different leaf types on them.

If it is Morus rubus, or red mulberry, it should be fruiting right now, too. Same for white mulberry. Another native tree with varying foliage shapes is Sassafras. I'd love to have one of these because they are a larval host for the Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: mulberry

The very easiest way to post pics here is to use the link up above the comment box, right above "User name". When you click the box, it will take you to your computer files. Find where your pic is located, choose it and then click "open" (I think). The link should show up in the box. Type in a message and then hit submit. It may take a little bit because it has to upload the picture from your computer.

Before that feature was available, using Photobucket was the easiest way for me. I would upload my photos to the Photobucket site then they would provide a link that I could paste in the message box. That is still the method I use sometimes. It works better when you need to post multiple photos.

Dawn,

I have looked the Sycamore over and cant find any of those nodules that showed in the link to tHe fungus, but im definitely not ruling it out, as 3 years ago we had some sort of fungus on our roodf that caused black streaks on it like you see on an old roof that needs replaced. We called our contractor and he brought a guy out and said the roof was fine we just have a fungus that can be prevalant on houses facing north and told us how to get rid of it, bleach and water basically.

And guess what, we still havent done it because all that bleach water is going to run down onto all of my deciduous (sp?) shrubs and im afraid they will be killed........ So if anyone has any suggestions there i would appreciate it.

Then last summer, i almost lost my beautiful big azaelas die to some strange fingus. I found the weird pods on those and had to have them treated. Now, i may have a fungus on 2 old trees? Makes me wonder if not taking care of the roof issue is causing all of this?

Im going to keep a close eye on the sycamore and call in an expert if i see more leaves dying.

Susan and Scott, As for the other tree, i really really dont believe its a Mulberry, ot puts of no fruit, on fact, it puts off those inch to inch and a half fuzzy thing....... Whatever they are called. I know you guys will know what im talking about......

Dawn, The leaves are hard for me to explain. Some are what i call 3 prong with 3 points and the others are just straight and narrow. When the leaves are finished growing for summer, i think they are even 2 different colors. Im pretty certain they will grow from the same branch, ive lived here 12 years and just noticed it last summer, amd i look at the tree every day as it is 50 feet from my back porch! Its going to be hard for me to het a picture because the bottim branches are so high but i will try.

Lisa, i mostly use my ipad and it doesnt have that option to post a pic that you are talking about. When i get some pictures, i will boot up my laptop and try and post from there. Im glad there is a pic option because i dont want to have to make a photobucket account!

On another note, that tomato that the cutworm got and i just poked back in the ground on saturday, i think its coming back to life.......

Thanks guys, i will try and get pics soon.

Emma

Emma, it should look like this:

There are lots of types of fungi. I doubt your roof fungus is causing a problem with the tree. Sycamores are prone to get diseases. Your description of the leaf could be sassafras. When you crush a leaf does it have a chemical smell?

Here is a link that might be useful: image of sassafras leaves

Emma,

Sycamore trees are very prone to lots of diseases, and anthracnose is just the most common one. When we lived in Fort Worth in the 1980s and 1990s, several houses near ours had massive old sycamore trees that were planted when our neighborhood was built in the 1940s. By the time we moved here in the late 1990s, all those sycamores had died and were gone. Some of them were rotten inside and came down on top of the houses during severe thunderstorms.

I love the way sycamores look, but there aren't any on our property and I wouldn't plant one because of the disease issues. There are a few on our road a couple of miles north of us, and some of them have declined and died the last few years. I suspect they were sickly to begin with and then the droughts of 2011 and 2012 just finished them off.

I think your second tree does sound like a mulberry or sassafras, but there may be other trees that have multiple leaf shapes too.

Dawn

My mulberry doesn't fruit, but it does get those "worms" as I call them.

Thanks everyone.

Lisa, i have that "image file to upload" that you are talking about, but beside it, it doesnt say browse, it says choose file and it is grayed out where you cannot click it. The website must not like my ipad.

When DH came home for lunch we talked about the roof, etc, and he remonded me that the expert who came out said it was an algae so Dawn is right and the three things are not connected. These trees have been here for a very long time and i just hate to lose them. He took about 8 stem samples and hsi friend is tsking them to the guys that teach the master gardeners vlass in Tulsa to see ehat is going on.

I tried to get pics of my mystery tree but it was too overcast today to get a good pic. Lisa, it may very well be a Mulberry. I didnt know they would put off those fuzzy worms and not produce.

Hopefully tomorrow i can get pics.

Emma