saabsister
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posted on August 24, 2002 04:27:04 PM new
We've experienced a prolonged drought in the DC area this year. The last couple summers and springs have been fairly dry also. The mature hardwoods in my yard are showing signs of stress. I'm on a well and can't water as much as I'd like. Last fall I planted a lot of shrubs and I've watered enough to keep them alive.
The tulip poplars' leaves have yellowed and fallen. But that's not that unusual for poplars. What I'm alarmed at seeing is browned leaves on beeches (shallow rooted) and oaks (more deep rooted). Usually this coloration is at least a month away. I'm familiar with the damage that gypsy moths can do. Defoliated trees usually put out another set of smaller leaves in early summer in spite of their stress. I'm wondering what will happen to the oaks. Anyone have experience with this type of situation, particularly with deciduous hardwoods?
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gravid
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posted on August 24, 2002 04:44:43 PM new
I don't know - but we are having a similar loss of leaves from maples and other trees here. I noticed a few trees that had lost alsmost all their leaves but had spent the energy to fruit heavy - almost like a survival mechanism - I'm lost but maybe some seeds will survive.
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saabsister
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posted on August 24, 2002 04:58:35 PM new
Acorns have already fallen, but so far, not an unusual amount.
I worry about shoestring fungus. I've had mature oaks suddenly die in midsummer from it. It's hard to tell with oaks now whether it's drought or fungus, but if I had to bet, I'd say drought.
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Helenjw
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posted on August 24, 2002 05:01:58 PM new
We had to remove two large silver maples...both dead - probably caused by the drought in the DC area. I have a cherry tree that is just flourishing with an amazing number of cherries!!!
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saabsister
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posted on August 24, 2002 05:13:09 PM new
Helen, I had to have a Red Maple taken out last year. The top half of it had died. It's roots used to be in my drainfield and when we put in a new septic system about ten years ago, we probably eliminated its primary water supply. I think maples are shallow rooted too.
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barbkeith
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posted on August 24, 2002 11:45:31 PM new
We live in Delaware on 2 wooded acres. We have a large tree in the middle of our back deck that is dying. I'm afraid it's going to fall on the house. The trunk near the ground has green leaves but the top is dead and this is a big tree. The strange thing is behind our house is 140 acres of turf farm that is irrigated and one of the trees that the irrigation hits is also dying. Our holly trees are losing their leaves also. No sense raking yet (not that I do that job anyway). Some of the corn here looks so terrible. I feel so sorry for the farmers who don't have irrigation.
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Borillar
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posted on August 24, 2002 11:49:19 PM new
There is a technique that you D.C.'ers might be intersted in. In low water areas, trees are not watered by spraying or pouring water on the gorund to soak into the root system o the trees. Instead, there is a long needle-like attachment that goes on the garden hose and you plunge it into the earth and turn on the water.
The idea of that is by watering on the surface, you loose most of the water to simple evaporation. By inserting the water at the tree's root system indise the earth, you can nourish the parched trees more effectively with a whole lot less water. It might be something for you to look into.
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Roadsmith
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posted on August 27, 2002 10:32:14 PM new
We are at 6,000 ft. altitude in the mountains of southern California. The drought has allowed the pine-bark beetle to move in on pines; it cleverly finds the distressed trees and kills them off, rather quickly, from the top down. We have hundreds of dead pines, a sickening sight, all over our mountains. Yesterday our first pine was removed (it's the law), $550. If not carted away immediately, the pieces must be covered with plastic for X number of weeks so the beetles are killed. We're anxiously looking at another already! We scrutinize our treetops the way parents scrutinize their children!
So we found out that probably we invited this tree's death by hanging a hammock two months ago, drilling into the tree for a large screw/hook. The tree man told us that when a tree is wounded it puts out a pheromone that attracts all sorts of viruses and bacteria - and bugs.
When he'd finished cutting the tree to the ground, he treated the stump with some sort of chemical because otherwise the wound invites viruses and bugs and so forth which go down into the roots and thereby spread to OTHER trees nearby.
But this is a big HOWEVER--it's either Mother Nature via beetles or Mother Nature via fire, and since we don't allow fires in our forests (now being seriously rethought), the beetles do the job for Mother Nature. Our forests in our little mountain tourist town haven't been thinned in a hundred years, but now people are beginning to realize that trees shouldn't have too much competition in our dry climate for water. Live and learn.
The other day a nearby giant ponderosa pine was removed. The tree man said he quit counting rings at 400. We should probably hold some sort of ceremony over such giants when they fall. I think we're all turning into Druids. . . . ~Adele
[ edited by Roadsmith on Aug 27, 2002 10:34 PM ]
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barbkeith
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posted on August 28, 2002 06:27:45 PM new
It finally rained here in Lower Slower Delaware today. It's supposed to continue tomorrow too. Still not enough to catch up but it's a help.
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snowyegret
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posted on August 28, 2002 06:57:12 PM new
Spitzing today. Our woods out back looks OK, because of the creek, but the front trees are shaky. When we were camping, the oaks out there looked bad, and coming back, it looks like late Sept here. 
You have the right to an informed opinion
-Harlan Ellison
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saabsister
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posted on August 29, 2002 04:51:02 AM new
Woohoo! We're on our second day of rain. All the shrubs have perked up except the climbing hydrangea. But I doubt the rain has gotten far in replenishing the water table.
Years ago at a conference I heard about trees sending out distress signals that were picked up by insects. (If you're a sick tree, it's better to keep your complaints to yourself.)
Barbkeith, you're probably not too far from my favorite store, the Millsboro Bazaar.
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barbkeith
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posted on September 14, 2002 06:49:39 PM new
Had to bump up this thread and see what you guys think. We are building a 2 car garage with an attached apartment for my mom. Since we will have to cut down several trees to do this we wanted to get an estimate of how much it would cost. Thursday, DH met with tree dude #1. The cost to just trim 3 trees, shred the branches and leave the wood (no, we do not have a wood stove or fireplace) was $1000. Yes one thousand dollars. On Friday I met with tree dude #2 and he said our trees did not die from drought but from being sprayed with a pesticide from crop dusting and we should contact a lawyer. He also said he couldn't beat tree dude #1's price. I can only imagine what it's going to cost to actually cut down and remove the stumps of the 2 trees in the way of the garage/apartment. Me thinks I'm in the wrong business. Anybody got a chainsaw and a really, really tall ladder????
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Helenjw
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posted on September 14, 2002 07:07:58 PM new
Barbkeith
We had two large maple trees cut down for 800 in Maryland.
This included hauling away the wood etc. but not removing the stumps.
Good Luck!
A fellow was going to remove the stumps for 150 each but he never arrived. 
Helen
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saabsister
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posted on September 14, 2002 07:18:24 PM new
Barbkeith, I had five trees removed this spring because of planned construction. The tops of two were dead. I think we paid about $3500 which included two stumps being ground down about a foot. I've heard some wild tales about tree trimmers and the predicaments they get into - both fly-by-nighters and licensed and insured guys. My arborist was working on one of my trees with a new crew member one day. He told the guy when to loosen the rope he was working with but the kid was a bit slow. A large branch swung back, hit him in the head, and knocked him out cold - thirty feet up in the tree! It took him about ten minutes to recover his senses. Then there was the one armed guy cruising through the neighborhood several years ago with his crew that had already smoked a few too many J's. We passed on his offer.
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Helenjw
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posted on September 14, 2002 09:50:35 PM new
A woman was in charge of my tree crew. She climbed trees, sawed, hauled the logs and directed the entire operation - All this while she kept in touch with her kids at home. Then when the job was complete, she collected the money. My husband was absolutely mesmerized with this woman! He stood at the back door and kept saying Now that's a REAL WOMAN!!!
HaHaHa!!!
This crew was a day late though because they had to get their chain saw out of hock.
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gravid
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posted on September 15, 2002 03:02:42 AM new
We have an art in the park thing here and I saw my former boss there.
He inherited his folks property in town and had similar quotes to remove a massive dead tree.
He decided to do it himself.
He tied a huge lower limb through a fork above. When he sawed it off it was not centered under the hang point above so it twisted as it came loose and smacked him up alongside the head knocking him out. Since he had no safety line he fell about 20 foot to the ground and the chain saw fell on him giving him some nasty burns. The tree above suddenally had it's load altered from the huge limb being cut and it's weight thrown to a different point it swayed back and forth making grinding noises at the base since it had a rotted out core and when it went over it fell across him breaking his pelvis and a leg and doing a real assortment of internal damage to go with his skull fracture and concussion.
It has been a year almost since he did this and the good news is that he may be able to walk normal again in 3 or 4 years if he keeps up the therapy. His oldest son has taken over running his business and he rides a little bike around town as he can still do that better than walk as he always used to do around downtown and the park.
I'm not sure how much he saved.
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