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August 12, 2010 - Is Tree Work Dangerous? A good friend of mine, Shawn, who is a landscaper, called a couple of weeks ago. He wanted me to go with him to look at a tree that needed work, and so I did. The tree was owned by the parents of an old friend of Shawn’s, who now lives on the west coast. Shawn’s friend had called him and asked him to get the tree work done for his parents, and told him about The Accident. The tree, a white pine, had been damaged (like so many in our area!) by that last big snowstorm last winter. Several broken branches were still hung up in the tree where, if they were dislodged, they might land in the street and hurt someone. That, I guess, was probably why Shawn’s friend’s sister wanted to help. Visiting her parents and seeing that they appeared to be in no hurry to take care of the tree, she decided to do it herself. She climbed the tree and a branch broke and she fell to the ground. Her mother told me they all feel fortunate she will walk again, but she is still recovering from a broken back, broken neck, and broken ribs. After the incident, I think everybody in the family was anxious to get the job done, and done by a professional. This is the tree:
We did the job for them today. It cost $312.00 So, is tree work dangerous? My answer has always been NO, or at least there is no reason it needs to be. Often when we’re pruning or removing a big tall tree a client will comment that the work looks dangerous, or “isn’t that climber scared?” My stock answer is “the scariest thing we did today was the drive to your house.” We had to share the road with all those distracted or impatient or angry people who are late for work. Once we’re on the job, we’re in control of the situation. Everybody knows all the safety procedures, we work as a team, we have good modern personal protective and fall safety equipment and know how to use it. Nobody does work they are not trained for and skilled at. The chances of getting seriously hurt are pretty small until the ride home! But we don’t take safety for granted. We are always learning from organized training programs. Everyone attends formal training in first aid, aerial rescue and electrical hazards. We go to seminars where we learn from others’ mistakes – accidents and near misses. We analyze the potential hazards on all our job sites. Years ago an insurance agent gave me his opinion why workers comp rates were so high for the tree industry. He said something like “you guys and painters- it’s not that your work’s so dangerous. Just that you seem to hire an awfully lot of alcoholics and druggies.” I can’t say there aren’t still some marginal characters lurking in a few companies disgracing the lower echelon of tree “services”, but the stereotype definitely does not accurately portray the whole tree care industry! Our trade organization- TCIA- Tree Care Industry Association- continually works to improve safety in our workplace. They publish lots of safety training programs and co-sponsor the ANSI Z133 safety standards for tree care.
And each month TCIA magazine prints a collection of the latest accident stories gleaned from the news. Here’s this month’s: You can see more in the archives: TCIA.org Each month as I read between the lines of these tragic stories, my opinion is reinforced that serious accidents among trained and skilled arborists are relatively rare. A disproportionate percentage of these stories imply some indication that the victims were unqualified to be doing the work that hurt them. So many casualties seem to involve fly-by-night type companies or individuals, landscapers and others doing work beyond their qualifications, and do-it yourselfers. IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!
June 24, 2010 - Bagworms and Bagworm Predators This morning we did a pest monitoring visit for a good client, a 250unit townhouse complex. Historically the worst pest here (invertebrate that is) has been the bagworm, because of the preponderance of arborvitae and juniper in the landscape. A big problem with bagworms is that to the untrained eye they are not easily seen, so they’re often not noticed until late summer when they are no longer easy, or possible, to control, and the tree has been killed or severely damaged. But early instar (young) larvae are EASILY controlled, you just need to know when and how to spot them. Cocoon of early instar larva. Can you see it? The caterpillar has camouflaged itself by attaching juniper needles to the cocoon! We examined all the important host plants today, and only found one very small bagworm outbreak (thus the lousy photo-not a lot of subjects from which to choose.) But what we DID find was lots of assassin bugs! That’s a good thing! They’re a predatory insect – one of the few predators of bagworm. Assassin Bugs The bagworm larva’s cocoon protects it from most predators, but the assassin bug can attack it successfully because it has a long, pointy mouth part (rostrum) that it can insert right into the cocoon See the rostrum? It’s the reddish brown spike curving down and rearward from the head Anyway, the point of this story is that this clients landscape has very few pest problems. And it is because they DON’T use regularly scheduled pesticide cover sprays. When we encounter a pest problem that reaches a threshold requiring an intervention we just target the actual pest population, we don’t blast the whole landscape with pesticides. And we use a control measure that can do the job with the least impact on non-target species. Bagworm can be easily controlled with Bt if caught in time. Bt only kills Lepidoptera, no other insects So natural predators control almost all the pests for this client. The bagworms rarely get out of hand anymore. There are never any mite problems on the spruces or arborvitae or junipers. This job is really easy if you know what you’re doing More insect eaters we saw today Damsel fly
predator mite (eating an earwig) Unfortunately a lot of companies still manage pests with regular sprays, whether needed or not. This is stupid. It’s like bombing the hell out of an entire country just to try to get one terrorist bad guy when you don’t even know if he’s there or not! It’s a huge waste of money and ammunition, there’s loads of unnecessary collateral damage, and a lot of the casualties turn out to have been your allies! The lesson : diagnose before you treat. (treatment without diagnosis is malpractice) Monitoring plants is the first and most important step. It is the key element in an IPM (integrated pest management) or PHC (plant health care) program. June 17, 2010 On my travel route today: more lionstailed trees. (See June 10). Again in Pottstown. Maybe Pottstown has an epidemic. Or would that be called an infestation (2-legged pests)?
June 10, 2010 - Wonderful example of horrible pruning! Sometimes in the course of my travels something catches my eye and I am compelled to pull over and snap a picture. This is one of those things.
Somebody stripped out all the inside branches of this pin oak! This is unfortunately a pretty common malpractice – the ignorant tree pruner sometimes claims to the unsuspecting tree owner that “thinning” the tree will let wind through and lessen the chance of storm breakage, and they do THIS. But this is not thinning – the name for it is LIONSTAILING. It doesn’t achieve the effect claimed because all the leaf surface area is now at the end of the branch where the wind force has the most leverage on the branch, instead of evenly distributed as “nature intended” (as evolution perfected). And then, all that light let in on the previously shaded bark causes the tree to waste valuable stored energy putting out sprouts, and it can’t make the needed amount of food (sugar) (energy) because of the reduced amount of foliage. This could likely be the beginning of the irreversible decline of the health of this mature tree. What a shame. Actual thinning is not harmful, it can be good. It takes skill to get out to the ends of the branches where the thinning cuts need to be. And if the cuts are made correctly, according to ANSI standards and using the 3 to 1 rule, you probably won’t even notice it was pruned if you are driving by.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 - Arbor Day-of-Service Today was Arbor Day for us! Not the official arbor day – that’s not until Friday here in Pennsylvania. But it is the day the Penn-Del Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture held their annual day-of-service Arbor Day celebration. Each year several companies from our area get together and provide pro bono tree care at the grounds of a worthy non-profit organization that just is not able to budget for the tree maintenance work they really need. This year’s recipient was Friends Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia. A great time was had by all of us, many of whom compete against each other in the tree care business every other day of the year. But this day was different – there was great camaraderie among us as we teamed up and worked on some really special and sometimes historic trees for a good cause. The Jacobs Tree Surgery crew pruned this cedar-of-Lebanon. It was in bad shape from snow-storm damage
Mike Chenail, our Penn-Del Arbor Day committee chairman, coils his climbing line after an aerial interview with KYW’s Karin Phillips. Here’s a link to the interview, if you click the audio part on the right you’ll hear all the background banter.
April 27, 2010 The perfect day for cedar-apple rust Every spring, the first time we get the right combination of temperature and rain, the eastern red cedars “bloom” with the spore producing structures of cedar-apple rust galls. YESTERDAY WAS THE DAY! And this year, the phenomenon seems especially spectacular, with some trees that look like they are completely covered with fluorescent orange jelly. Not surprising, considering how the wet weather last summer caused severe infestations of the disease on the alternate host, apple trees, where the spores that infect the cedars originate.
More explanation of the disease and photos of the apple trees can be found at July 15, 2009 article.
April 19, 2010 Mulch Madness Part II I saw this mulch prep job in progress during my travels a couple of weeks ago. It shows how NOT to mulch so perfectly, I could not resist sharing. The landscapers have dug trenches around the trees and piled the soil they dug out up against the tree trunks. Look at this pile! You can see why we call them mulch volcanoes. Look at all the roots that were cut in the trenching process.
How could these guys not be aware that root injuries like this harm the tree?
Maybe it’s almost time to remove those stakes? Well, you can’t fault them on thoroughness – look, they’re mulching the dead tree! And here, they’ve even got the low branches covered! That’s really extra effort!
Ok, all this is incredible malpractice. But some people, not knowing any better, think it looks nice. If your landscape maintenance effort is really eye-catching, the neighbors might try to emulate it. Here, the guy across the street apparently was inspired to mulch his pin oak. Unfortunately, the material he had available was old mortar and stucco! Ok, I’m done complaining for a little while. Next, I’ll show you how to do it right and why. (go to March 19 for Mulch Madness Part I)
April 17, 2010 A lot of arborist work is about helping people plan The trees in your landscape today - and their values based on condition, location, and species - are a result of decisions that were made years ago. What you decide today determines the future. With trees, you need to think long term. Here are 3 jobs we did last week and the plans we decided on. 1. Pruning to make a
(damaged) tree safer
Of course, I can't guarantee that this tree won't be damaged again. After all, it is a silver maple. But the owners should be able to enjoy it for several more years with much less concern for their safety. 2. Pruning to train for
the future The honey locust had two main leaders, and the one towards the house had grown larger than the other. Ideally, it should have been pruned when very young to maintain a single central leader. It's now too late for that, but we can reduce the larger leader to subordinate it and to help keep it away from the house. Before The tree was pruned to reduce the larger leader, without destroying its appearance and in compliance with Ansi A300 pruning standards. Also on this property was a young Sawtooth oak - healthy and vigorous, but beginning to develop several co-dominant stems. These are the upright branches with the tight-angle crotches that will be likely to split in a storm when the tree is bigger. Before We pruned the co-dominants to subordinate them, so the center leader will remain dominant. In a few years, the co-dominants can be removed or further subordinated and the tree will be much less prone to storm damage as it grows to mature size. 3. Getting the new tree
started is sometimes the best plan Once the client was aware of all of this, he liked my idea of getting a new tree started - a new tree that would eventually get really big, but would be planted where it had room to grow. In a few years, when the red maple finally has to go, the new bur oak tree will be established and the loss will not seem so great.
April 10, 2010 Another Big-tree Removal We did another big-tree removal job yesterday. This tree was a (catastrophic!) accident waiting to happen. The owners have been aware of its condition, but had been reluctant to have it taken down, partly because of the expense. But the last windstorm caused a big branch to fall near the house, and now they realized the job should not be put off any longer.
As much as I love trees, I wouldn't want a monster in this condition towering over my house.
The tree had a large split from an old lightning strike
Some pretty big wood! Imagine the damage it could do. We are very busy now. The early spring weather is contributing to this, I’m sure. And seeing all of the tree damage from the last few storms has caused a lot of people to move tree maintenance higher up on their priority lists. And I’m no economist, but I know that an economic downturn is usually followed by lots of work for us. There is always plenty of deferred maintenance to catch up on when spending confidence returns. I’m hoping this is a good sign. Slideshow - more photos of the removal job April 2, 2010 I was asked to "top" a tree On Monday I got a call from a man who wanted me to give him a price to prune a tree. He told me on the phone that he would want me to cut a considerable amount off of the top. Yesterday I went to look at the tree. It was the only tree in the back yard, and would have been a very nice tree except that it had obviously been “topped” about 5 years ago.
Can you see where the topping cuts were made? The crown of the tree was made up of clusters of long, weakly attached sprouts as the result of the trees’ growth response to the previous incorrect pruning. What I now need to explain to him (he wasn’t home at the time of my visit) is that cutting the top off of his tree again will not achieve anything positive for him. If he doesn’t want the tree to become “too big” and threatening to his safety, re-topping the tree would actually be completely counterproductive to his goal. Because what happens when a tree is wounded this way is that (if it’s healthy and has the necessary stored energy) it produces vigorous new growth. This tree has grown approximately 15 feet in the last 5 years. Normal annual growth for this species (it’s a sugar maple) is about 6 inches. If NOTHING had been done 5 years ago, it wouldn’t be any bigger (maybe even not as big) as it is now. And all that new vigorous sprout growth is less sturdy that the natural branching structure would have been – the point of attachment of each sprout is made up of only 5 growth rings, plus there is a column of internal decay below each of the old topping cuts.
The sprout attachments are weak, tight-angle crotches. Now, after 5 years the trees growth rate is becoming closer to normal. I could do some corrective pruning – cut away the dead stubs, thin the sprouts to remove the excess and retain the stronger ones, and train for future growth that will produce the strongest possible branch structure. This will be a pretty lot of work, but it would be worth doing – it’s a young, vigorous tree without any other problems, and there is plenty of space for it to grow to its natural size. The tree would have needed way less work (at way less cost!) if all it needed now was normal maintenance pruning. But it will need nothing more than a little minor pruning every few years once we take care of the corrective work. But first I have to explain all this to the customer and convince him not to just repeat the previous mistake. TOPPING IS MALPRACTICE! Those who perform it are either ignorant of tree biology, or unscrupulous! P.S. - The next time we do a removal of a tree that was damaged by topping I'll post some autopsy pictures.
Mulch Madness is in full swing now! Everywhere I go it seems that employees of the assembly-line landscape maintenance companies are doing their annual GROSS MALPRACTICE of piling soil and mulch against the tree trunks.
When these guys dig their little trenches to define the edge of the mulched area they cut and injure the trees roots. Then, often, the soil that's dug in the process gets piled on top of last years mulch. Then they'll cover it with more mulch. In addition to the health problems caused by the mulch being in contact with the bark of the trunk, this is one of the primary causes of the growth of roots in a pattern that girdles and eventually kills these trees. But may be you're thinking "I see this going on everywhere." Maybe even at every house on your street. So Warren must be full of crap, everybody besides him couldn't possibly be wrong! Well, if you don't believe me, just Google the term mulch volcano and see what you come up with! (mulch volcano is the derisive term used by knowledgeable people in the world of horticulture to describe this abomination.)
WHAT THE HECK ?!?! Since this is probably the biggest tree health problem I have to deal with, you will see MUCH MORE on this subject coming to this page. Stay Tuned. Warren
March 16, 2010 The Daffodils are in bloom outside my office window! Spring at last!
February 14, 2010 What to Do When Your Tree is Damaged By a Snowstorm Let me start with the story of one persons’ misfortune because it is such a powerful learning experience.
“The mysterious case of the death of Mr. Key’s
sycamore”. For me, a visit to his house near Valley Forge was always a delight because he would insist on giving me the tour of his personal little ”arboretum.” He’d always test me, pointing to an unusual specimen such as his beautiful Cunninghamia, and saying “you know what this is?” One day in 1997 he called and asked me to look at his big sycamore tree. It was suddenly dying and he had no idea why. The whole top of the tree was dead and the trunk was covered with sprout growth. Mr. Key was heartbroken to lose this magnificent tree, but it now needed to be cut down; in this condition it was a threat to the house.
The top of the Keys sycamore is nearly dead and the main trunk is covered with sprouts (above) With the sprouts removed you can see the cankered spike injuries (below)
So we cut away the trunk sprouts and the mystery was immediately solved: the bark had evidence of injury due to someone climbing it using climbing spikes. The spike wounds had become the site for a canker disease infection. Each year for the past 5 years, the vulnerable woundwood surrounding the injured tissue was killed by the canker, leaving widening concentric rings of dead wood. After about the 5th year, as the increasing dead areas coalesced, half of the circumference of the trees cambium was killed. When I explained this to Mr. and Mrs. Key, they both said my conclusion could not be accurate – no one was ever allowed to climb any of their trees using spikes – the Keys knew better. I showed them the concentric canker rings, counting them backwards to the little hole in the middle, and said yes, unfortunately someone did and it was in about 1991. Mrs. Key suddenly said “OH NO! Now I remember!” There had been a nasty ice storm about 6 years before, and some guy knocked on her door and told her that, for the small price of 50 bucks (since he was in the neighborhood) he’d climb up the tree and get the broken branch that was hanging in the top. She agreed, and the man went out to his truck and began to strap on his climbing spikes. Mrs. Key was watching and said “you can’t use spikes, they’ll injure my tree.” The man assured her the injury would be insignificant and it would heal right away, it wasn’t going to hurt the tree. So he did it. 6 years later we knew that she was right and he was wrong. But a terrible way to learn the lesson.
A lowering device is lashed in place in preparation for the removal . Can you see the spike mark in the center of the concentric rings of canker dieback? Don't panic – it’s not a health emergency for the tree! The tree doesn’t need first aid. It’s not going to bleed to death. · Don’t panic – once safety issues are resolved – things like broken branches precariously suspended over targets like your house, sidewalk and driveway, there is no longer an emergency. · Don’t panic – trying to remove heavy snow or ice from trees or shrubs is likely to cause additional damage. The damage is already done. Wait for it to melt. Once the weight is gone, branches often remain bent in position. They may remain “frozen in place” for a while after the weight is gone, but they will recover amazingly as the weather warms. I can then bend some branches back to where they should be, or make targeted pruning cuts so that the subsequent growth will be of the desired form. (If some type of unprofessional hackery occurs before I can do this, it will be much more difficult for me to get the desired results.) So the message here is – if nothing is blocking your driveway or threatening a target – wait. Wait until the restoration and pruning can be done by someone who knows what they are doing. Improper pruning cuts or those that damage branch collars will cause permanent damage. Malpractice such as this is the biggest potential problem for storm damaged trees. Malpractice by unqualified handypersons or homeowners poses the greatest threat to the future health of damaged trees.
The past week's tree-related headlines were topped by a tragedy Torrential rains soaked southern California for several days. In San Jose, a family returning home parked their car under a large shade tree in front of their house. Just as the parents were unbuckling their 2-year-old son from his car seat, the tree fell and crushed the car, killing the young boy. News articles on the story were accompanied by many reader comments about the accident, some readers blaming the city for being negligent for allowing a hazard tree to exist, and some asserting that such an "act of God" was horrific, but unpredictable. A casual observer probably could not have anticipated the failure of this tree. But evidence I saw (from 3,000 miles away, of course) showed some defects that would have raised red flags for an arborist, had one been employed to assess the condition of the tree. Previous improper pruning and the burying of the tree's trunk flare was obvious, and would have indicated to the arborist a need for a more comprehensive inspection, which in turn would likely have resulted in the prediction of a high probability of failure. But of course, it is too late now.
After the tree had fallen the reason for its failure was obvious - there was very little support root structure remaining.
But the question (for the lawyers to decide) - whose fault was it? Was this an unpredictable "act of God" or should the church, on whose property the tree stood, be held liable for the car owner's loss because it failed to remove a predictable hazard? Once again the average person probably would not have noticed an impending catastrophe by looking at the tree. It probably looked reasonably healthy, and there were no really obvious defects to the above-ground portion. But, (also once again) an inspection by a qualified arborist would surely have turned up evidence of this tree's hazard potential. Do you see the "mushroom" at the base of the tree trunk?
This is the fruiting body of a decay fungus (it appears to be Inonotus dryadeus). This would have told me that the tree probably has an extensively decayed root system. With that information the tree owner might have decided to do something to avoid this problem. But, once again it is now too late. And, as I said, it's now a job for the lawyers.
Herbie the Famous Elm tree of Yarmouth, Maine has been cut down. See the excellent TV video of the story. The tree news story of the week has been about the demise of a veteran tree in Yarmouth, Maine. It was probably the largest remaining American elm in New England, and one of the few big ones that has, until now, escaped the deadly Dutch elm disease. This excellent TV video includes an interview with the 101 year old former town arborist who helped keep the tree alive for the past 50 years. http://www.wcsh6.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=62356396001
Today we did our first cat rescue There's no such thing as a cat stuck up in a tree. If he could get up there, he can get down. Never saw a cat skeleton in a tree, ever! So today, the phone rang while I was at my desk (indoors, my least favorite work environment). The caller said he had an unusual question and didn't know who else to call. His cat had been in the top of a tree in his backyard for over two days. He sounded like he was slightly embarrassed to ask me to come out and rescue it. He also sounded worried. I told him I'd call him right back, after I contacted my crew. I called the crew's two cell phones and got no answer (our job sites can be loud). While waiting for their return call, I pondered this job request. Should we do it? The cat will probably come down itself eventually. Will my climber be reluctant to risk getting scratched and bitten over a cat? Then I decided "yes - of course we're going to do this - we can use the blanket method of wrapping the cat, like when we need to take ours to the vet, to avoid being injured if the cat's response is ungrateful. And besides, this guy's concern is genuine - he didn't even ask what I'd charge, he just wanted his cat safe. So I called the man back and told him we'd be there within an hour. I drove to the nearby property where my men were working and enlisted my foreman, Ricky. We took the tree truck (which contains every piece of equipment we could possibly need) and together we went to Eagleville to meet the anxious cat owner. He was waiting outside when we got there and pointed immediately to the top of the tallest ash tree at the rear of his property. The cat's name is Budweiser. A big orange tom cat. It was petrified. Its free paw was actually shaking as it looked down at us. Ricky proceeded to set his climbing line in the tree, using the throwball. This scared the cat even more, causing it to pee. A lot. Thankful that the cat's bladder was now probably empty, Ricky ascended the tree.
Almost there!
"Bud" is bundled for the trip down. Ricky wouldn't have needed the blanket - the cat seemed very agreeable to receive company up there. The descent was uneventful.
Coming down So back to the beginning of this story. The myth that it is impossible for a cat to get into a situation where it can't come down is just that - a myth. In most cases they eventually will get out of the predicament on their own, especially if left alone without too much fuss and attention. But if several days go by and they are still up there with no food and especially with no shelter in bad weather, they probably actually do need intervention.
Safe! I learned a lot about this topic and you can too, from Dan Kraus's website: catinatreerescue.com. Dan is a world-class professional climber and a really good guy, and his website contains a directory of climbers throughout this country and internationally (!) who are willing to take on this type of emergency rescue job. It's been a while since I've showed tree news through this column, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been any. The last months of 2009 were actually very eventful in the local arborworld, I've just been a little too preoccupied to report on it. But I promise to get back on here really soon with a recap. Check back next week if you're curious. W.
Does your oak tree look bad? It might be bacterial leaf scorch. OR IT MIGHT NOT. There is NO WAY to be certain except by laboratory analysis using an immune response test. Of course, it's always important to correctly diagnose a problem before deciding how to treat it. The wet weather we have experienced this year has provided favorable growing conditions for many leaf diseases of trees - in the case of oaks these would be oak anthracnose, Tubakia leafspot, leaf blister, and powdery mildew. (If you are trying to diagnose the cause of your oak's disease symptoms by looking at pictures on the internet be aware that oak wilt disease has not yet been found east of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania). None of these leaf diseases (all caused by fungi) normally warrant control measures. They are very unlikely to permanently impact tree health, and probably won't be an issue next year unless we get another very wet growing season. Bacterial leaf scorch is a different problem. The bad news is it will not go away (even if treated with antibiotics - don't be misled). The good news is that BLS alone is not going to kill your tree, at least not quickly and not without the combined impact of other factors. Bacterial leaf scorch has had a lot of media publicity in the past several years. Unfortunately, it seems like a few unscrupulous tree care "professionals" have risen to the occasion, victimizing unsuspecting customers by recommending inappropriate, or bogus, treatments, or by recommending removal of trees based on strictly visual diagnosis. Bacterial leaf scorch CAN NOT BE DIAGNOSED WITH CERTAINTY WITHOUT A LAB TEST. And usually a symptomatic tree will be suffering from other ailments such as chlorosis, pest problems, previous moisture stress, root damage, soil problems, etc. that may actually be a bigger factor than the disease. Don't be scammed. Get an accurate diagnosis before you make a management decision. If in doubt get a second opinion, preferably from someone who has no financial reward at stake, such as your Penn State Extension office. More information about bacterial leaf scorch is available in my article on this site.
Interesting Removal Job It was a great big tuliptree and it had been struck by lightning the previous Sunday. I agreed with the owner that removing the tree was the best option, even though you can’t always tell right away whether or not a lightning-struck tree will survive. It was a double-trunked tree and both trunks were significantly splintered from the strike. There were other defects too – it had been improperly pruned (topped) at least twice over the last 40 years and, though not obvious to a non-professional, there were large decayed and hollow limbs and weak re-growth as a result. And it was right next to the house! It would be a pretty expensive job, but the client told me I was the low bidder! I thought perhaps the other 2 tree companies thought the job might be a little too tricky for them and they didn’t really want it. The client suggested perhaps they (the others) felt they could take advantage of the situation because insurance would be paying for it. (The claim was denied, at any rate). So we decided to treat it as an emergency- the owner was really concerned about the danger. We did the job on Monday. We were well prepared, with a big crew, and the job looked like it should actually end up being fairly routine until I spotted the bees! Honey bees. In the hollow created by one of the old topping wounds was a colony of honey bees. Now what? We opted not to kill them, as it appeared they were not easily agitated. Honey bee colonies vary in their levels of aggressiveness depending on the queen. It seemed like this was a very docile queen. The climber was not afraid of them, and he simply went about his business piecing down the tree with the bees paying him hardly any attention. The last cut, however, did get them riled up as it dumped their home forty feet to the ground. We waited until the next morning to fell the remaining trunk. Here is a slide show of the day’s work. Note the photos of the climber working with bees buzzing all around him! Click here to view the slideshow
August 11, 2009 It has been a somewhat hectic past couple of weeks – lots going on for me including several violent thunderstorms that inflicted lightning strikes and wind damage on numerous trees in our area. But today I’m taking some time out to catch up on posting some of the interesting tree phenomena I’ve observed recently.
Another “Emerald Ash Borer” Scare I was called to the clients' home because her beloved huge white ash was not looking healthy- lots of dead wood- and had been receiving a hammering from wood peckers. When I checked the tree, besides the woodpecker holes, I observed many exit holes in the bark that had been produced by boring insects. Some were the typical oval shape of the ash-lilac borer, but some had that dreaded “D” shape that could possibly indicate EMERALD ASH BORER. Sure looks similar to E.A.B! I looked closer, picking away at some of the dead bark and poking into the borer holes. Eventually I found, to my relief (and the tree owner, Anna’s!), the wing cover of an adult ash- lilac borer in one of the “D” shaped holes. False Alarm!! Not EAB!
The client REALLY wanted to save the tree, but I didn’t want to waster her money on an expensive pruning job if it were doomed anyway because of Emerald Ash Borer. So my men climbed the tree and checked the dead branches, also, for signs of E.A.B. infestation. All clear. We went ahead with the pruning. The tree is not in the greatest health but it’s now a lot safer without all those dead branches above the driveway and patio. And it looks nicer too, don’t you think?
Cedar Apple Rust A client in Collegeville asked me to look at her apple trees, which appeared unhealthy as the leaves were turning color and dropping off.
Viewed up close, the leaves display the orange colored lesions typical of cedar apple rust.
Nearby, at the property line, is an Eastern red cedar tree that is completely infested with cedar apple rust galls. This is an interesting disease because it has a two year life cycle – spores (aeciospores) released in summer from the fungal fruiting bodies on the apple leaves travel through the air and when they land on Eastern red cedar or another susceptible juniper infect that host and produce galls that, in the spring, produce spores (basidiospores) that, in turn, infect leaves of nearby apple trees. To see the fruiting galls on juniper in spring (an incredible sight!) scroll to the April 21 entry in this column. I also noticed evidence of a canker fungus disease (possibly Botrosphaeria) and fireblight, a disease caused by a bacteria – Erwinia amylovora – both causing injury and death of branches. If my client can convince her neighbor to remove the cedar tree (it is not a nice tree, either location or health-wise_ her apple trees will probably have much less leaf-spot problems in future years. This winter we will do maintenance pruning on the apple trees, including removing the dead wood. This should reduce the problem with the Botrosphaeria and Erwinia diseases.
Violent Storm Tests Cable System Back in May of 2007 a client from Schwenksville came to me with a dilemma: she has a big Norway maple near the street in front of her house that was very much alive, but in very fragile condition because of extensive decay from old injuries. The best thing to do, I told her, would be to cut down the tree, because it was a hazard – if it broke, which it eventually would, it was likely to land in the street, pulling down high voltage wires and possibly hurting someone driving by. She did not want to remove the tree because it provided a screen from the road, plus it would be an expensive job. She wanted an alternative solution to reduce the risk. A typical cable system would not be a long-term repair, the tree was way too far gone for that. But I offered a compromise plan of installing a non-static cable – a special very strong hollowbraid Dacron rope with big eye splices connecting it to the main trunk and the perilous leader over the street. This would protect the weak branch to a degree but, more importantly, keep it from crashing into the street if it did break. Well, yesterday it broke. There was no way it could withstand the extremely violent winds from the thunderstorm that came through yesterday afternoon. But the cable held, and the big heavy branch remained suspended above the street. We had the mess cleaned up by 8:00 this morning, to the relief of the concerned client.
August 8, 2009 Tomato Update I still haven’t lost any more tomato plants. I have been spraying them after each rain and I guess that has been working. It hasn’t rained for a whole week up until today, and there is some nice lush green new growth on top – not marred by the phototoxic “burn” of the phosphorous acid. I have never applied regular chemical sprays in my vegetable garden in all my 40+ years of gardening. My crops are normally 99+% organically grown, not because I have any fanatical fear of modern crop protection chemicals or synthetic nitrogen but because I just don’t normally need them. The soil is fertile because I till in cover crops and lots of composted wood chips. And this year I made my own fish emulsion fertilizer out of all the filleted carcasses of the bluefish I caught this spring. If I were to use pesticides the decision to do so would be based on the same IPM/plant health care principles I use when caring for a client’s trees. First watch plants for potentially damaging pests, then intervene only when those pests reach a threshold population. For me the threshold is losing the crop – I’m not trying to please any fussy supermarket shoppers that would freak if they found a caterpillar on their broccoli. When I do nothing, natural predators usually keep the pests under control. Pardon the digression, back to the tomatoes. I actually feel kind of lucky that I detected the late blight in time. Apparently the disease is still rampant in our area. Just last Saturday I was at a client’s property and she showed me her sick tomato plants. I advised her to take a sample to the Montgomery County Cooperative Extension office in Creamery. When I came back to do the tree work on Friday the plants were gone. She lost them all! And these were established plants from a reputable source pretty far from the nearest neighbor. And in Harleysville there is a huge community garden I can’t help gawking at every time I drive by. Beautiful vegetable plants of all kinds immaculately maintained. But driving by on Friday it appeared they were about to lose the tomatoes – hundreds of plants that appeared perfect up until now. So this story is not over.
July 18, 2009 Update on Tomato Late Blight It looks like I might not lose my remaining tomato plants. Last Saturday - 1 week ago today - I removed and burned all of the plants that showed severe symptoms. But most of the plants had some part that looked infected, and instead of destroying them I pruned out the bad parts. I have been spraying with Daconil, and a week ago I started also using Agrifos - a fungicide containing potassium salts of phosphorous acid. This is a material that can possibly be used by organic gardeners. I have used Agrifos experimentally, along with a material to enable it to penetrate the bark, on trees, and just learned it's registered for food crops also. In the past week I have seen no spread of the late blight disease in my garden. Oh, and by the way, I got my first ripe tomatoes this week. The earliest in the summer I can ever remember. They are on the Rutgers' Mortons that are advertised to be an early ripener. I guess they are! July 12, 2009 More on Tomato Late Blight What Should the Home Gardener Do? So up to now the only advice I have heard has been, basically, : if you have late blight there is nothing you can do to save your plants - rip them all out and carefully dispose of them to prevent the spread of the pathogen. But today, I found some more in-depth advice on the Penn State Master Gardeners blog. Check these 2 very interesting articles: * Late Blight - What Should the Home Gardener Do? - Rescuing Plants * Late Blight - What Should the Home Gardener Do? - Destroying Plants You need to click Permalink at the bottom of the articles to see the comments. Also, here are 2 good articles that explain a little about who and what are responsible for this problem. * Greenhouse Grower - Disease Costs Bonnie Plants $1 M in Recall * Garden Detective - Alert - Late Blight Disease... and Update - Late Blight Disease
!! UPDATE !! LATE BLIGHT TOMATO DISEASE CONFIRMED Recently I sent samples of my unhealthy tomato plants to the Plant Disease Clinic at Penn State. They called me right back and confirmed that my plants had late blight. If you grow tomatoes PLEASE READ my previous article about late blight, and please examine your plants. This is an extremely serious situation. And if you do have it, it affects not only you but your neighbors and any local tomato farmers!
GARDENER ALERT - TOMATO DISEASE OUTBREAK A couple of weeks ago I bought a tomato plant at Home Depot and planted it in a barrel on my deck. Shortly after planting it, it developed severe disease symptoms, so I pulled it out and tossed it in the weeds. Then last Monday (6/29) I got an email message from Rutgers University Ag. Station, warning that the Northeastern U.S. has a disease problem that is different from other years. The disease is late blight (Phytopthora infestans). This is the disease that caused the Irish potato famine. It kills infected tomato, potato and other related species of plants VERY QUICKLY and is also EXTREMELY CONTAGIOUS. The cool wet weather we’ve experienced is the ideal condition for late blight development. But what’s really different about this year is that late blight has never been seen this early in the season over a large region. And worst of all, infected plants have been distributed from Ohio to Maine through large retail stores that sell a big volume of plants all originating from the same supplier (Bonnie Plants, of Georgia, according to sources I located on the internet). So yesterday, I stopped at the same Home Depot and tried to warn the person in charge of the plant department. She said “what do you want from me?” I was only trying to be helpful, but that wasn’t at all appreciated. I guess there’s a lot of money at stake for these big companies, but I do not agree with their apparent unwillingness to face up to the problem. Then I went home and examined the tomato plants in my garden, about 80 plants, mostly heirlooms I grew from seed. Five of the Rutgers Ramapos were infected with late blight and I yanked them (and disposed of the properly this time!) So the message is monitor your tomato plants VIGILANTLY to watch for late blight symptoms, especially is you got some of them at what the Rutgers and Penn State alerts refer to as “the Big Box Stores.” The wet leaf lesions and dark colored lesions on the stems are quite obvious to the naked eye. Photos – infected leaf and stem on Ramapo tomato in my garden
If you find infected plants, remove them immediately, don’t compost them-bag them and get rid of them to reduce the chance of spreading the innoculum. For more info go to http://www.njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/documents/Lateblightalertforgardeners_001.pdf
Emerald Ash Borer found in Kentucky Last week the office of the State Entomologist in Kentucky confirmed reports of this devastating invasive insect in Shelby and Jessamine Counties. Emerald ash borer was introduced to the US from China by way of imported wood products. Since its discovery in 2002 it has spread rapidly, and will probably continue to do so. Emerald ash borer was detected in Pennsylvania in the westernmost part of the state in 2007, and hasn't been found farther east until just this past February (2009) when it showed up in Mifflin County (in the middle of PA) so learn what to look for if you have ash trees - apparently there is no stopping it from eventually reaching us. More info at http://ento.psu.edu/extension/trees-shrubs/emerald-ash-borer.
DON'T PANIC! Your ash tree is going to be OK. Have you noticed lots of leaves falling from your ash trees this past week (week of May 17th)? Do the leaves look like this?
These trees will recover within the next couple of weeks, and will look fine for the rest of the season, with no permanent harm. The culprit is a fungus disease called ash anthracnose, and the reason it is so noticeable this year is because we had a week of rainy weather just as the leaves were in their most vulnerable stage -partially expanded. Once the leaves are fully formed, they will no longer be susceptible to the ash anthracnose pathogen, even if the spores are present and climatic conditions favor the disease. Don't let anyone talk you into treating this disease - sprays, injections or any other treatments will do absolutely no good. In order to effectively treat this disease, the fungicide must be applied BEFORE the symptoms reach this point. Because we can't predict the weather in any given year, to treat a tree for ash anthracnose involves a fungicide application PREVENTIVELY, whether it will make a difference (wet spring) or not (dry weather at leaf expansion time). Ash anthracnose poses very little impact on the health of a healthy ash tree. It is mostly a nuisance (and perhaps a surprise) to the tree owner. I do not recommend bothering with preventive sprays, unless the tree is already in precarious health or the tree is located where the leaf-drop nuisance is actually a real problem.
We removed a couple of big trees yesterday. They were in a tight spot, with lots of obstacles. But the right people and the right equipment really made the job easy. Can you believe we got paid to have this much fun?
Penn-Del ISA Arbor Day of Service There are many landscapes consisting of wonderful specimens of old and valuable trees whose owners - public institutions, parks, old cemeteries, etc. - do not have the financial means to provide the care these trees deserve. The local chapter of our professional society, The International Society of Arboriculture, tries to do something about that. Each year a nice bunch of volunteer arborists from Penn-Del ISA gets together to perform a day of free tree care service for a needy organization. This year the very worthy recipient was the Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia. What a magnificent site this is! It's a National Historic Landmark, and a horticulturally significant 54 acre oasis right in the middle of Philadelphia, near the University of Pennsylvania. Today, "Earth Day" 2009, was the day. Rick, Scott and I had a really fun time working together, in well-organized teamwork, with fellow arborists from around the chapter. Some of use are competitors in business the rest of the year, but that doesn't keep us from being best of comrades for this labor of love.
We met new friends, shared stories (many with similar themes) and got a lot of really high quality pruning work done. What a satisfying day it's been! I'm tired! Good Night!
Cedar Apple Rust This morning as the rain was clearing out, I went to a clients property in Collegeville to quote some pruning work. While there I noticed an eastern red cedar tree that was just beginning to "bloom" with the reproducing stages of cedar apple rust. This common disease has a very interesting lifecycle : the fungus that grows as a leaf spot disease on apple trees produces spores which, when carried by the wind are deposited on cedars or other species of juniper, grow to form galls on the juniper twigs. Then, after a spring rain when the temperature is suitable, the galls erupt into a brilliant orange jelly-like substance that is the spore producing stage on cedars. This reproducing stage occurs magically fast after the rain, then only lasts a few days. Spores from this fruiting body then infect the leaves of apple trees to complete the 2-stage lifecycle. Galls just starting to expand
Fruiting body
April 19, 2009 The beautiful weather of this weekend will surely kick off our spring busy season. I can’t wait, it’s been a long winter! The Virginia
bluebells in front of my office window are now in full bloom.
Note the spring beauties and a few dandelion in the lawn in foreground :mine’s not the typical suburban sprayed sterile lawn. Today I saw the first blossom in my strawberry patch. Spring’s definitely here
Also today, in my driveway, I spotted this beautiful emerald green beetle.
THIS IS NOT THE DREADED EMERALD ASH BORER! (the adult EAB does not emerge for another two months). And, thankfully, they still have not been found here in Montgomery County, although they are in western PA. The webs of eastern tent caterpillar are starting to become noticeable on the native cherries in the woods, as well as on the crabapple in my nursery.
I get a lot of calls about ETC, (with people often confusing it with other more destructive pests such as gypsy moth). Don’t let them worry you - they are not going to invade like some of the introduced pests and populations are kept in check by natural enemies such as assassin bugs, parasites and birds. (it’s a favorite food of the Baltimore oriole) I’m not going to spray the ones in my nursery, I’ll probably just destroy the nests before they eat a lot of leaves.
If I’d noticed this egg mass – the things that look like a swollen area on the twig - over the winter, I could have just pulled it off then and prevented its hatch. Exciting things are happening outdoors every day, and at an especially fast pace at this time of year. I’m going to try to keep you updated with regular posts here on this site, hopefully with some links to more information on some of the topics.
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