Paul J Hetzler's Blog (47)

Terminal Bud Scar: A Tree's Health Chart

Scarred for Life

Paul Hetzler, ISA Certified Arborist

It makes sense that dying trees have terminal bud scars. Sounds like an awful condition – my condolences. But the healthiest trees have them, too (terminal scars, not condolences). It’s a good thing, since terminal bud (aka bud-scale) scars provide an excellent way to leaf through a tree’s health records going back 5 to 10 years.

After a woody plant has its full complement of leaves, and they have hardened off, that…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on September 24, 2019 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Treeconomics 101: Early Fall Color Explained

Treeconomics 101: Color-Coded Prosperity



Deciduous trees, lakeside ice-cream stands, and marinas all close down each autumn for the same reason: as daylight dwindles and cold creeps in, their outfits become less and less profitable. At a certain point it makes sense to batten the hatches until the following spring.



Some enterprising holdouts stay open longer; perhaps they have a cost advantage others do not, or have less competition. A few are the opposite, closing shop…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on September 23, 2019 at 4:39pm — No Comments

New Beech Threat Nothing to Sneeze At

Beech Health Update

Paul Hetzler, ISA Certified Arborist

In the early 19th century, a Prussian diplomat asserted that “when France sneezes, the whole of Europe catches a cold.” Things changed, obviously. For a long while it has been an American financial sneeze able to make the world ill. Though China’s economy is projected to soon zip past ours, other countries still put hankies to their faces when the USA coughs.

Canada has been covering up for some time…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on September 14, 2019 at 10:10am — No Comments

Forest Pests are Exploding

Forest Health Forecast

If you’re tired of hearing about new invasive forest pests, I’m right there with you. Seems they arrive at an ever-increasing pace, and the harm potential ratchets up with each newcomer. At this rate maybe we’ll get a wood-boring beetle whose larvae explode, which would put things in perspective. As distasteful as it is to peer at the cast of ugly new characters, it’s better to know what we’re up against.

Novel pests put everyone on a steep learning…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on August 31, 2019 at 12:05pm — 1 Comment

Preventing Anthracnose and Apple Scab

Crabby Apples and Other Complaints

We waited a long time for summer to arrive this year, so it is unfair that some flowering crabapples are turning yellow and brown and shedding their leaves already. Mountain-ash, serviceberry, and hawthorn are also affected by the same disorder. Here and there a few maples and other species are also dropping random leaves, which are for the most part still green, often with patches of black or brown. The latter situation has a different origin, but…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on July 7, 2019 at 9:36am — 1 Comment

Oak Wilt: You Can Make a Difference

Oak Wilt

It’s hard to be cheerful in a job where I am expected to keep up on each newly arrived or imminent threat from invasive insects, novel plant diseases, and worrisome trends in the environment. Although I typically deflate everyone’s happy-bubble when I give a talk, I’ve discovered we need not fret that the sky is going to fall.

The National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) is a joint effort of research institutions, government agencies and nonprofit groups; their…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on June 29, 2019 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Healthy Forests, Healthy Fish

Fish Forestry

As many anglers know, trees and fish are closely related. Really; it goes way beyond basswood. The relationship is not in the sense of phylum or family, of course. And it's not like the way in which tomatoes and fish were briefly married in a 1996 experiment at Oakland, California-based DNA Plant Technology in an attempt to get a frost-tolerant tomato (or possibly a saucy fish). If it weren’t for tree cover, cold-water fish species would not survive in most of the…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on June 26, 2019 at 7:30pm — No Comments

Trees Are Sick of the Weather

Maple Motion Sickness

No one wants to be told they have a weathered complexion, but many trees this summer, especially maples, are looking a bit worse for the wear as a result of conditions earlier in the season. “Leaf tatter” is a term used to describe foliage which may be torn and bedraggled-looking, distorted, sometimes with blackened spots or zones. It can easily look like a disease or mysterious pest is ravaging the tree.

As tree buds open and young leaves begin to unfurl,…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on June 20, 2019 at 5:38pm — No Comments

Ice Meadows

(N)ice Meadows

Now that the weather has finally warmed up, we can appreciate ice a little more. Among other things, ice greatly improves summertime drinks, and an icy watermelon is hands-down better than a warm one. And in this part of the world, ice also provides us with unique wildflower meadows. Along stretches of riverbank in the southern Adirondacks, rare Arctic-type flowers are blooming now in the fragile slices of native grasslands that are meticulously groomed each year by the…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on June 11, 2019 at 8:37am — No Comments

Perennial Pet Peeves

Local Volcanoes



When you think about it, landscape trees have a rough life. Firstly they don’t get to choose their neighborhood, whether good, bad or indifferent. Depending where they are planted, they may need to contend with helpful watering by territorial dogs, materials-testing by energetic kids, entanglements with errant kites, or other issues.



Rooted in one spot day in and day out, year after year, they suffer from – well, boredom, I imagine. And from restricted root… Continue

Added by Paul J Hetzler on May 28, 2019 at 7:51pm — No Comments

Helping Trees Recover from Flooding

Most Things in Moderation

As a teenager, my son had a saying, whether original or borrowed I don’t know (the saying, that is), which went something like “All things in moderation. Especially moderation.” It would seem Mother Nature took that to heart, and dispensed with moderate rainfall and snow melt this spring. If not her, then maybe it was Creepy Uncle Climate Change. At any rate, the resultant flooding has been heartbreaking to observe.

While I am of course sensitive to…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on May 6, 2019 at 1:20pm — No Comments

Happy Tree Day!

Plant a Legacy on Arbor Day

Muskrat Week. Velcro Month. Arbor Day. You know it’s an obscure event when the greeting-card trade hasn’t bothered to capitalize on it. While not the best-known observance, Arbor Day has a respectable history, as well as a local connection.

Rooted in northern NY, Arbor Day is observed on the last Friday in April. J. Sterling Morton of Adams, NY germinated the concept in 1872 to highlight the need to conserve topsoil and increase timber in his adopted…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on April 25, 2019 at 2:02pm — No Comments

Update on Oak Wilt, HWA, Lanternfly & Asian Earthworm Class 03/29: DEC Credit Approved

If anyone needs DEC pesticide Credits, this course was just approved for NYSDEC Pesticide Credits as follows:

5.50 in Categories 2, 3a, 9 and 10;

4.50 in Category 25;

3.00 in 6a;

1.00 in 1a.

ISA CEU Credit also pre-approved.

See sidebar under Upcoming Events for details.

 

Added by Paul J Hetzler on March 22, 2019 at 3:55pm — No Comments

Choosing Good Landscape Trees

Unnatural Selection

Paul Hetzler

After a winter fraught with temperature swings, ice and near-record cold such as this past one, being able to finally plant things outdoors is especially welcome. While flowers can be dug up and replanted around the yard much like arranging the lawn furniture, it is different with trees.

Consider that the act of planting a tree is in many ways a transcendent one. Sure, a new tree will give us shade, beauty, energy savings and increased…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on March 9, 2019 at 10:23am — No Comments

Preventing Root Damage in Forests and Landscapes

The Root of the Problem



It may not look like it at now, but mud season is right around the corner. In towns and villages, spring involves returning songbirds, blooming flowers, and a birth-frenzy of construction projects fresh off their winter-long gestation.



But "construction damage" does not only apply to human landscapes. In rural areas, maple production often brings tractors into the woods during mud season, and timber harvests may continue even during the period… Continue

Added by Paul J Hetzler on February 25, 2019 at 6:18am — No Comments

Tree Pruning Workshop in St. Lawrence County on March 20 2019

Tree Pruning Workshop

Or:

Neglecting Young Trees Leads to Delinquency!

When: Wednesday, March 20, 2019 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Where: St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES Learning Center, 40 West Main Street, Canton

Agenda:

9:30: Registration

10:00 to 10:45:Tree Wound Response & Compartmentalization

10:45 to 11:15: Trees and Threes—The Commandments of Pruning

11:15 to 12:00: Why We Prune, & Reality…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on February 9, 2019 at 7:13pm — No Comments

Chocolate Trees for Valentine's Day

Love Trees

Generally speaking, I love trees, even those I must admire from a distance, such as the love-tree, a.k.a. the cacao, Theobroma cacao, from which chocolate is derived. Not only is chocolate associated with romance—most notably on Valentine’s Day—it can potentially help us feel more lovey-dovey thanks to some of the chemicals the tree produces.

Native to Central America, the cacao tree grows almost exclusively within about twenty degrees latitude either side of the…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on February 5, 2019 at 3:50pm — No Comments

Class on Invasive Forest Pests

Emerging Invasive Forest Pests: Identification, Prevention & Management

When: Wednesday, January 16, 2019 9:00 AM until 3:30 PM

Where: St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES Center, Classroom A, 40 West Main Street, Canton NY

Cost: $10.00 Includes lunch and materials.

Pre-registration required; please call (315) 379-9192. For information, email…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on December 20, 2018 at 5:10pm — No Comments

Northern NYS EAB Info Meeting--Help Pass the Word

Run, Dorothy—Emerald City is Falling

Watertown is poised to become an Emerald City, but that’s not good news. Jefferson and Lewis will soon be Emerald Counties, and St. Lawrence County began the process of change two years ago. Unfortunately, this kind of transformation does not involve happy…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on November 5, 2018 at 9:59pm — No Comments

Foresters Need Laughter, Too

Evolution, Just for Fun

Every time I make primordial soup, it tastes terrible, but maybe some element is missing.

Roughly four billion years ago in the original batch of soup—or possibly it was a stew or even a souffle; that detail is a bit hazy—single-celled organisms first made an…

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Added by Paul J Hetzler on October 13, 2018 at 5:28pm — 1 Comment

Forum

Replanting after timber harvest with climate change in mind

Started by Ben T. in Woodlot Management. Last reply by Patrik Schumann on Tuesday. 1 Reply

Hi Everyone,I’ve been wondering what tree species are going to thrive over the next 50+ years as the climate warms in New York and I’m curious if folks are enhancing plantings of particular tree species for future commercial harvest with warmer and…Continue

Rust Colored Hemlock Bark

Started by Carl Albers in Woodlot Management Dec 31, 2023. 0 Replies

Picture of a hemlock with rust colored bark.  When I cut a nearby tree, also with rust colored bark, it was infested with HWA.  Attached picture shows a Logrite ATV arch in use.Continue

Rust Colored Hemlock Bark

Started by Carl Albers in Woodlot Management Dec 31, 2023. 0 Replies

The hemlocks in my woodlots have been infested with hemlock wooley adelgid (HWA) for at least three years now.  Lately I've noticed some of them having a rust colored bark and I wonder if this is normal and that I just didn't notice it previously? …Continue

How to control mature white pine and hemlock to allow enrichment planting of hardwoods

Started by Peter Smallidge in Woodlot Management Nov 28, 2023. 0 Replies

I had a question about control of mature white pine and hemlock to improve sunlight for enrichment planting of hardwoods.  Following is my response, but I would like to know if anyone else has any experiences to share with control of these to…Continue

Story in Northern Woodlands Magazine on Deer Impacts

Started by Brett Chedzoy in Woodlot Management Aug 8, 2023. 0 Replies

This Spring we had an opportunity to speak with writer John Litvaitis about the big picture of deer impacts on the hardwood forests of the Northeast.  I posted the original story from the summer edition of Northern Woodlands to the…Continue

Ash blonding effect on lumber quality

Started by Jeff Joseph in Woodlot Management. Last reply by Jeff Joseph May 5, 2023. 2 Replies

Question: In Peter Smallidge's most recent "Ask a Professional" column for NYFOA's Forest Owner magazine he stated that some log buyers will reject ash that shows outward signs of "blonding" on the bark. Is this because the wood will change…Continue

The American Chestnut: A New Frontier in Gene Editing

Started by Brett Chedzoy in Woodlot Management May 2, 2023. 0 Replies

https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/policy/042823/the-american-chestnutInteresting discussion the difference between efforts with the American Chestnut and other…Continue

Growing Black Locust for Pleasure and Profit

Started by Brett Chedzoy in Woodlot Management Apr 20, 2023. 0 Replies

In early March I was invited to present on the opportunities for growing black locust as a timber cash crop at the Rural Landowner Conference in Allegany County.  Ryan Trapani from the Catskill Forest Owners Association asked afterwards if I would…Continue

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