[slipshod]

As an owner of 2 old farms plus a homestead I have a lot of trees to manage.I have been culling and trimming my woods in an organized manner for 3 years now.
If it is a tree that grows in western New York ,I probably have some of them somewhere on my properties.For the last few years I have started to pay attention to deseases ,blights,and insects that have a negative effect on the trees.
The much maligned American Elm is one tree that we recognize as an example of a tree that was hurt by imported desease,Dutch Elm desease. Now they also suffer from Elm Yellows.The leaves will turn yellow,in the middle of summer and start to fall within days.The tree dies quickly.
Another tree that I thought as indestructable is the white ash.Wrong again ,the ash around here have a blight that causes galls to form where the seed pods should develope.The tree dies.It has taken some of the ones I have been watching a couple of years.They become dangerous to cut because the branches have a tendency to crack off and snag in the tree top,creating widow makers for anyone attempting to cut them down.
The American Chestnut,once the most prolific tree in North America is all but gone.Another tree that has been vitumized by an imported pest. There is a lot of effort being put forth to save this tree. Locating ,isolating,and breeding specimens found still healthy.
Sugar Maple in the north are examples of what acid rain can do to a tree population.I have some that are pretty sorry looking trees.
Black Cherry suffers from Red Rot. You cut down what looks like healthy tree only to find the middle is red powder.
I am sure there are many more examples of what I am talking about here. Haven't even touched on the problems with pines.

 

[Argee]

In as much as I live in the middle of a pine forest, I'd be interested to hear what you have found disease wise with regard to the pine. Eastern white pines are plentiful here. The only problem we've noticed is the spittle bugs. They don't really seem to harm the tree, but are very annoying when you walk under or work around the branches. Are they a problem in your neck of the woods?

 

[red-n-green]

I guess we are pretty lucky in NW TN with our trees. I don't recall near that many problems here. We did loose all of our wild chestnut trees some years ago. You can still find one on the ground that has not rotted completely, but otherwise the only chestnut trees we have are the ones we plant. I applaud you for taking care of the forrest you have, more folks should do that instead of cutting everything down. Taking out selected trees makes for better growing conditions of the ones that are left.

Jay

 

[Ingersoll444]

Most of my trees are in good shape, but I do have a real nice ceder tree that has some kind of strange thing going on. Parts of it look like it's rusting. Weird. Tornado that came throu last summer toke the top off of it, so I may have to just remove it.

Also lost a few white pines two years ago. Don't know why, but they were young trees, and I realy don;t care for them any way. Luckly all my oaks are doing good. Got a TON of them.

 

[Live Oak]

I usually take out the trees that are in bad shape. It opens up the foest for more healthy trees. I do leave the straight standing dead tree for the wildlife like the wood peckers and perches for hawks and buzzards. My oaks around the house were a little peakid looking last summer. Hopefully they will be in better shape this year.

 

[Greg]

Paul,

I have some Cedars that did the same thing, areas of "rusty needles". Talked to a gardener and he said it was normal. Don't worry unless it spreads a lot more. Apparently it happens every couple of years. Mine are back to green now.

 

[Ingersoll444]

Originally posted by Greg
Paul,

I have some Cedars that did the same thing, areas of "rusty needles". Talked to a gardener and he said it was normal. Don't worry unless it spreads a lot more. Apparently it happens every couple of years. Mine are back to green now.

Ya I had a tree guy look at it, and thats the same thing he said. I am glad, becouse it is right inside the entrance to my drive, and it kinda brakes up the oaks a bit. I AM kinda PO'd the tornado ripped the top off though. We will see how it looks next summer.

 

[parts man]

We have about 500 acres of woodlots and practice sustainable forestry, in short our land grows more than we cut. we do some selective harvesting and some release cutting. Selective cutting is selecting the over mature and deseased and poorer trees to cut, and leaving the healthy and vigourously growing trees to carry on, while making room and light available for young trees to take off. A release cut is taking all trees of saleable size and leaving the young growth to grow. Both are acceptable as sustainable forestry. One reason we do release cuts is that one woodlot we own was cleared by my grandfather in the late 40's, so most of the trees are now over mature, with a lot of natural regen underneath that is 10 -20 ft tall. If left as is the younger trees will be supressed to the point that they will start to rot and die out, and the over mature trees have already started to die, if left alone, all that will be left is a mess of dead-falls!
Right now we are involved in a necessary clear-cut on a stand of fir on one of the woodlots. We planned to do a kind of thin to get some young trees started, but our fir has "wooly aphid" attacking it baddly!!:furious: It is much like spruce budworm, attacking the buds and killing the trees from the top down.
The idea behind the clear-cut is to cut in the winter, hopefully freezing the aphids out and taking their food supply so they die off and free ourselves from these pests. This is the solution recomended to us by our forestry technitions, so we are hoping it works out.

One pest that is attacking the pine in our area is the white pine weavel, it also attacks the buds, ussually killing the leaders, and ending up with a multi-topped tree that isn't very healthy.

 

[Chipmaker]

In my area we have lots of pne beetle problems. If caught early its controllable without a lot of work, however its usually in the late stages its seen, then its hard to control. Our oaks get what is called Oak Wilt, where they get black and brownspots on the trunks and it leads to internal decay in a lot of cases, and makes for fungus like growths if the season is especially wet. ABout the biggest pest for me is mistletoe. Its very invasive and will take over an oak tree in a heart beat, and it would cost a fortune to kill it on one tree, as it can takes yeats of work, only to have it reappear the next year. The hanging mosses we have (spanish type) don;t seem to really kill a tree but it certainly does not help it either. It usually holds back the tree from getting a full cover of foilage so while it may not outright kill the tree it seems like it stunts it growth, so thats just about as bad. Although lots of folks like the looks of mosses hanging from trees, its a mess. One thing for the moss, goats and cows love it andits high in protein, but not wortth growing for feed for livestock either.

We have kudzu vines here that will literally run accross a paved roadway almost overnight and engulf an area so thick in its vines you can just about set back and watch the stuff grow. Hard to erradicate and control since most of the stuff that controlled it is now off the market, or requires a permit and liscense to buy and use.

 

[jodyand]

Chipmaker i know what you mean about kudzu my Grandmother lives in Alabama and i have seen that stuff take over trees telephone poles and houses. My Granddad was driving though some in a field and it wrap all around the drive shaft and axle and brought the truck to a halt. It took us two hours to get all of it off and while we were working on that the stuff was wrapping itself around the front end. Its like that crap knows what its doing its like its alive and just wants to devour everything in it pathdownloadin
Jody