This was the last time the yard was clean, I gave up some weeks ago, the leaves, they just hung there so long, a long harvest this year for sure. The leaf dump in our woods is knee high with the fruits of my labor.

That is a good sized apple, you could thatch a roof with a handful of leaves.

They were huge.

Did you see these spots on any of your leaves? My yard was full of them as I have a few maples.

I also spied it on leaves in some other parts of Town while on our stroll.

It was localized.

When I spotted it on fallen leaves I thought how did tar get on these leaves?

The same morning I saw it on leaves still clinging to branches on trees near the river.

So I went looking for the black  tar like spots.

Rhytisma Acerinum, commonly called Tar Spot!.

Just a fungus of the natural world that needs no control.

Fungus, the largest living organism on Earth.

Its time to clean the gutters now, the leaves are down.

Mike