Site Discussions

Hope someone reads this: it’s July and no one is probably decorating their Xmas tree! Milkweed fluff makes great “snow” to toss on your tree! Just pick the dried pods before they have been completely relieved of their precious cargo and toss it into the branches of your tree. I found it to be easy to work with and not a problem like the needles of a Xmas tree, remaining behind to haunt you, sometimes into the middle of next year! The fluff is pretty and when you put your tree outside in January to hang food for the birds, the fluff will blow away to germinate in the spring and await the hungry Monarch larvae!

This story reminds me of a giant southwestern centipede discovered in my Arkansas home as a kid. Talk about scary! The local folklore of that time was that your skin would rot anywhere one of these walked. They were so terrifying to look at, the story was totally believable.

Thank you for your article on Asiatic Bittersweet. Growing up with ‘Timber Harvesting’ and ‘Northern Woodlands’ magazines in the family home, I saw your publication carried a gravitas appreciated by my small woodlot-owning father and uncle. 

I myself, an out-of-stater in Maine-speak am coming up north and warning my family about the threats of this terrible vine. I see what it is doing in the green spaces of Philadelphia, PA. The complete suppression of growth on what few seedlings the deer dont eat, and the girdling and shading out of all young to large sized trees. And winter fall/breakage of softwood branches from the strain of the vines compounded by the weight of any ice/snow from storms.

I always knew Massachusetts had a terrible kudzu problem, and that loosetrife, knotweed, and milfoil were plant invaders in Maine.  However, I never heard of Asiatic bittersweet, and even with an active interest in this topic (Im now supporting a land trust as a volunteer preserve steward) I never saw bittersweet in my readings, and once aware, found others who I shared this information with equally perplexed. 

Aside from our insect and fungus invaders, I see Asiatic bittersweet as the largest threat to our forests.  And too few people know about it.

It is a terrible threat, for its girdling, strangling, thick spreading roots, and aggressive complete colonization where present.  People might not realize, this is a WOODY vine.  It has the strength of a dog lead and yet the flexibility and propensity to grow like a morning glory vine.  Further, the presence of one plant means an almost 100% likelihood of spreading within 5 miles, as the seeds are so favored by birds and thus well dispersed. They are successful in sprouting.

For those managing woodlands, even for your trees that survive, dropping a tree with vines in the top can easily add 20 minutes to a single normal cut. We dont have (native) grape or virginia creeper in our (northern) Maine forests and so arent used to this extra burden. The Bittersweet even further complicates tree felling. The recent 295 corridor widening near the Freeport exits must have been a dangerous, frustrating ordeal with all of the bittersweet tangled in those trees.

And so, my comment for readers of this article who love and care about our northern woodlands - this is one plant to know.. and put sweat labor behind reducing/eradicating.

For a Northern Woodlands writer/editor,  can you refresh this topic and write an update article for your readers? 

Thanks much!!

It would seem the outcome was an unfortunate cautionary tale…

@Katz I have the Gransfors Bruks splitting maul.  I would get that along with two wedges.  I have been using them for a couple years and haven’t come across something that I can’t split.  It’s heavier than the splitting axe and may tire you out more but you will split more wood in less hits.  I actually just ordered the splitting hatchet from Gransfors last night as the one drawback with the maul is it’s so heavy that when you go to do smaller logs for kindling it’s a little unwieldy and over-gunned and while doing the one hand on log, one hand dropping the maul I’m afraid I’ll mis-strike and injure myself so I figured the splitting hatchet will be good for kindling cutting.

Quebec does have, north side of Lake Memphremagog, stone structures that may be primitive, to respond to Paul Gosselin. But what is a modern-day border of political need?  Nothing.

I’ve just been looking online at stone chambers around the world, and the ones near me in central NH could tuck right in with those and look like them. What does that mean?

Hey Frank in Philadelphia, We played with poly-noses when I was a kid too! Great fun. However I learned more recently that the ones we used with the sticky sap are Norway Maple, not a native maple. So, be cautious about eating them until you know they are okay.

I have a Great Lakes-style basket of uncertain age, probably of split ash (it’s signed “Ruby Lincoln” on the bottom and might be Menominee or Ho-Chunk).  The material has gotten brittle; what can I use to preserve it?  I’ve heard that linseed oil will turn the basket black with time.  Is lemon oil OK to use?  If not, what can I put on the basket to nourish and preserve the wood?

This is a very informative article. Makes it simpler to find out the bird from its nest. Check out these amazing bird nests made in the strangest places.

If the tree was defoliated by insects, or frost, or something external, then it should recover and be fine. If it just didn’t set leaves, it’s a very bad sign. If you still see green you might give it a year just to be sure, but more than likely it’s dead.

I have 5 maple trees that have not leafed out this year and it is now July 1!  When I break apart some of the branch it is still green.  Is there anything I can do?  Do you think they will be ok?

Thanks for this new info,  now I wonder if white ash seeds are edible. Trees here are laden with a huge crop of them. When do they fall?  Tricks on opening them?

Victoria Weber

Hi Dave:

The dead oaks were probably killed by the combination of gypsy moths and winter moths—a kind of deadly duo where the winter moths defoliate trees in the spring and then the gypsy moths hit them again in the summer.  A couple years of that and most oaks get pretty weak.  You can see a lot of that in southeastern Mass along 495 and Route 24.

A very enjoyable article. I have attended the Basket Exhibit and Sale in Bar Harbor since 2000 until the last few years when circumstances have not permitted me to do so. How wonderful to see the continued evolution in the quality of Passamaquoddy and Penobscot basket construction and design in such a short time. Bravo to the success of the Maine Indian Basket Makers Alliance.

We have one following after it’s adopted parents. Even with seed covering the ground this little jerk still demanded to be fed. Felt sorry for him until I found proof of what I suspected. What an a-hole!

Excellent article!  I like to read what is happening that is positive on the international forestry front.

What a cool article!  I’ve lived around maples most of my life and would never have guessed the seeds were edible.

That’s a nice explanation between an axe and maul. Many don’t even know the type of tool they’re using when they cut wood and just assume it’s an axe.

We called them Polly Noses—we’d take the green ones, split the sticky end where the seed is and then stick them on the ends of our noses. Good times. Never knew we might have eaten them!

A) “We swam in pounding surf – the kind that knocks you around and humbles you”

You must be a hardy specimen to swim in the Atlantic at this time of year!

B) “Seabirds – common terns, I guess”

Likelier to be herring gulls and their brethren, though perhaps where you were there’s a goodly population of terns. Sea gulls are ubiquitous; terns less common.