Site Discussions

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.

I can’t wait to try it!

I’ve a problem complicated by another problem.

1. I’ve 2 Spruce with trunk diameters of about 14+ inches. One was blown into, and prevented from falling by, the second such that one tree which is not cut is fully leaning into the second engaging at the tops at about 35% of the tops. The leaning tree is somewhat unrooted but not too badly.

2. The direction it/they really have to fall involves a banking of about 10’ in height about 15’ from their bases.

My concern is that if I cut the leaner ... it will not fall but more heavily lean into the other and be even more of a problem. If I cut the non-leaner I am concerned that the tension created by the leaner will cause a very erratic response in terms of when and how it falls. If either are cut, when they hit that banking they may easily kick back and there’s not a whole lot of places that would be safe.

Any ideas?

I just found my oak truck covered with head-down, dead gypsy moth caterpillars. 6/26/15. Thank you for the informative article. I will let the spores continue!

Hey there - in response to your question, we contacted a tree expert who helped to fact check this article. He wasn’t able to confirm that Norway maple seeds are edible. So, out of an abundance of caution, best to stick with native species.

Is Norway Maple, being non-native, inedible?

I don’t know a lot about birds, but I found a lovely straw cup shaped nest in a thorny bush 4 or 5 feet up. It had 5 blue speckled/mottled eggs in it. I was pruning the bush back, and I got to one or two feet from the nest before I saw it. A bird nearby had been squawking away, and stopped as soon as I left. Am I a home wrecker? Will the mama bird go back?

I have a wild grape growing on my property. The main stem is as big as my upper arm, and it grows huge quantities of vines every season. It also produces, by mid-May, hundreds and hundreds of clusters of tiny green grapes. Unfortunately, by Mid-June, they have shriveled up and died, tiny brown clusters still hanging attached to the vines. Is there anything I can do to tend/cultivate the vines to get some of these grapes to mature?

I planted a locus tree this past November. It is now mid June and still has not leafed out. When I cut off a bud, you can see green inside. Is there still hope for my tree? Can I do anything to help the situation? Thank you so much.

My wife and I just acquired a farmhouse and 6 acres in Delaware county, just NE of Franklin county in Ohio. On this property is what I believe to be one of the oldest and largest butternut trees in the world.  At the base, the trees circumference is more than 20 feet! This tree looks like it has been standing since the Revolutionary War.  Trying to preserve this tree.  It is producing some nuts currently.