What is this thing? I just discovered it today on my Orange Trumpet vine. To be on the safe side, I snipped it off. Looking at it more closely it has a dome shape to it. An egg sack of some sort? I looked at other leaves on the plant in the same area, just a couple other leaves with different looking spots.

Could it possibly be a Tortoise Beetle?

That's what I thought, too.

Forgot to give a shout out to @JRsbugs

Not sure about the first one, but the second two leaves look like Frog Eye Leaf Spot: http://tinyurl.com/p4tgxcb

Housekeeping is the answer for preventing the spread of any fungal disease, Greg. i.e. exactly what you did - remove any leaves that are showing signs. Sometimes that is all you need to do.

But if it starts showing up more, a spray of baking soda and water 1/2tsp to a quart is a good preventative. You need to do it fairly often, especially after rain and overhead sprinkling since it will wash off.

Are you making sure to water in the mornings? Evening watering in summer is an open invitation to fungi to infect the leaves when they sit all night with water on them.

The first one looks like a fungal leaf spot of some sort, it would be interesting to see if the surface breaks open to release spores. There is all sorts of insects which make galls on leaves but this doesn't look like a gall.

https://translate.google.co.uk...

Look under leaf spots:

Fungal fruiting structures (reproductive structures) are usually embedded in the dead interior. Frequently a “halo” of yellow or red color develops around the border. A halo indicates recently killed tissue that will eventually die.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/m...

dyzzypyxxy said:Housekeeping is the answer for preventing the spread of any fungal disease, Greg. i.e. exactly what you did - remove any leaves that are showing signs. Sometimes that is all you need to do.

But if it starts showing up more, a spray of baking soda and water 1/2tsp to a quart is a good preventative. You need to do it fairly often, especially after rain and overhead sprinkling since it will wash off.

Are you making sure to water in the mornings? Evening watering in summer is an open invitation to fungi to infect the leaves when they sit all night with water on them.

Yes, I switched to morning waterings, it fits well with my pattern, although I cut back a bit on this planter due to the moss growth, plus we've actually had rain in these parts for the last couple of days after that sweltering heat.

Many of the online search results I looked at that reference frog eye leaf spot connect it to apple leaves and also the fruit. My neighbor has an apple tree (not sure what kind, I think they're crabapples) about 20-30ft away from the planter. He doesn't maintain it at all. It has brown spots all through the leaves, but I'm not sure if they're the same thing.

We're on good terms with this guy, so I don't want to start any wars, but would gladly volunteer to help him trim it way back and haul away the debris if I can convince him the tree is spreading fungus (if that's what it is happening). I managed to get a few pictures of the leaves, and also one of the apples to determine what kind they are. One of the apples has an interesting "lump" of some sort on it. Part of the "lump" glistens in the light, like tiny crystals or something.