Jenny Wright wrote:I think the fact that each damaged leaf has a web or string to it suggests spider mites. If they get out of control, they will kill your tree. A couple of years ago I had spider mites kill two pears and three plums before I figured out what was wrong. These were 1" trees about 6' tall. My well established 10' pear tree suffered damage but was strong enough to survive and recovered in the spring after the winter killed off the mites. I noticed some signs of infestation on different trees this past spring and after the blossoms were done, I used some soap and essential oils to help my trees fight the teeny tiny attackers.
I think your both right spider mites never had them kill an entire tree before, though we have crazy amounts of lacewings wasps etc from the various umbellifer flowers. Was it a particularly hot summer or stressful year for the trees?