Site Discussions

PITCH PINE has to be planted as a 2 year, bare root seedling to adapt and reach its maximum growth rate. THEN IT CAN REACH 25 FEET IN ONLY 5 YEARS, IN FULL SUN. THEN IT SLOWS DOWN and is more wind firm than white pine. Landscapers are ignorant of ecology and very narrow minded about aesthetics.
Make sure that you can feel the root collar when planting seedlings. never bury it. Croshaw Nursery in NJ and Pikes Peak in PA have P Pine.
Also great if all the needles and branches are blown off-resprouts .

I think my daughter has 3 or 4 nests under her vinyl siding.  Long story short, after reading how “docile” / impotent these things are, I got stung within 2 minutes of starting to pull up the siding to powder the nests. Yes, it was 70 degrees, daytime outside and yes I know better.  Just didn’t think a female would be riled enough to come out and defend. She was. “I’ll be back ... ”  late at night, with a red light, in protective clothing.

Here in Germany we mechanically cut holes in the invasives and replant tree seedlings in small collectives in the holes so that they can compete with the invasives without too much labor and never with herbicide because our forests are our water supply.

We have more productive forest in Germany than in US. look at Wald wissen website.

I agree with Peter - it has an unpleasant taste. But it helps sick people!

Great blog, Dave! It’s a miracle this individual wasn’t injured or worse in this instance, as he did nearly everything wrong in every step of the process.  We have seen many, many injuries and deaths from much less egregious lapses. If nothing else, it serves as a stark warning that felling trees is not for the untrained. Thanks for the nod to GOL. Ed

Can sweet fern be used to produce essential oil?

I was taking great pictures of a beautiful alder beetle…the black and white stripped one…the kids set out to kill it…I told them not to kill critters just because they’re there..they said I was crazy….my point being everything has a purpose ...please find a valid purpose I can share for this beautiful beetle…thanx

Thank you for sharing this!  Too bad we all need these types of reminders to keep our heads straight but, glad I watched it.  I have taken a safety course and am glad I did. It is way too easy to make mistakes. Those of us that are lucky learn from them, no matter who makes the mistake.

Thank you for your efforts to increase the numbers of silk moths in the Northeast. I found your article very moving and informative. Please post where cocoons, eggs, and larvae may be obtained so that I and others may also contribute.

I believe, the male fertilizes the female’s eggs before she deposits them in the stems of aquatic plants.The process is internal fertilization.

In our yard beneath a small maple I found a small nest (less than 4” across, shallow, less than 2” from top to bottom) made entirely of thistle down.  What made this nest?

A good articles on wild parsnip burns: 
http://dnr.wi.gov/wnrmag/html/stories/2000/jun00/parsnip.htm

and one comparing human reaction to wild parsnip vs poison ivy:
http://dnr.wi.gov/wnrmag/html/stories/1999/jun99/parcht.htm

I have two butternut trees. I have been waiting 18-19 years to receive fruit from them. Always said before I die I will see them produce nuts for me. I just laid my husband to rest this summer. Looked up at the tree and what do I see but its given me a nut for the first time. I am faced with the joy of getting the trees to produce nuts which makes me happy! But I know there is a process to drying them. Would love so input on how to dry them and cure them now. Can you help?

I was hoping you might have some ideas on how to store multiple handles for extended periods of time.

Bear baiting as well as any kind of baiting must stop being banned as unethical.

I don’t have personal experience, Neil, but the numbers back up your contention. According to the BTU chart that hangs on the wall of my office, larch has about 19.5 million btu’s per cord; that’s comparable to white birch and red maple and a lot better than other softwoods. White pine and balsam fir have about 13.2 million btu’s per cord.

Un-freaking-believeable that we are even having a discussion on this. Ethically, morally, spiritually…setting live traps with jelly donuts, scraps of food, garbage, whatever is hunting? Really? Have humans fallen so low in “managing” wildlife that you have to resort to this? Those of you who say ” I saw a bear on my walk in the woods the other day” inferring they are a menace are living in the wrong part of the world. Humans will be 8 BILLION soon. Bears do not stand a chance against the onslaught of humans reproducing. Let them be…hunt them ethically….this is so wrong. If I had known you all were debating this before I planned a vacation there, I would not have planned it.

I have heard that, among the softwoods, larch is the best firewood. Does anyone have personal experience with using it this way? How long do you season it? Other comments or recommendations? I have 10+ acres of European Larch planted in the late 1980s.

I very much like olden days life styles and their connection with nature. I want to do my own axe, thank you for this information. It gave me suggestions to make my own axe, choosing of material & wood.

The issue of out-of-state money is irksome, but everywhere and unavoidable at the same time.

The Moosehead Plum Creek development, JD Irving’s desire to operate an open-pit mine, and the money spent by out-of-state hunters in Maine, are all examples of outside money that seeks to influence Maine citizens in the use of Maine’s resources.

If that outside money could be eliminated, the issue of moneyed influence would then move solely to Maine residents and institutions. That may not be a large improvement.

Mainers do not agree with each other on the items listed above even though they have roughly equally valid insights into Maine life.

There would still be those within Maine who can afford a louder political voice than others. Their opinions and goals are no less wrong or right just because they are Maine people.

I think (hope) people are beginning to ignore the money-driven agendas and will decide the bear baiting and similar issues on their merits.

A concise argument, pro or con that is factually defensible, is very expensive to overcome.