Site Discussions

Thank you for the excellent description of the spruces.
I vacation each year in Maine and like to collect pitch from the evergreens for use in my violin varnishes. There are no spruces where I live in central Virginia.
I have been collecting only spruce resin this year and would like to be able to identify the kind of tree that it comes from.

I’ve been lucky to have had two New Zealand- made air tight, double combustion Fisher Stoves in my family for many years. My clever father built a unique design of cowl to fix the draw issues. It fixed the smoke problem, too. One of them has a wet back. Myself and others are helping get his cowl all over the world as it isn’t only pre-EPA stoves its helping.

Its success is how it maintains flue conditions by engineering a natural pressure differential chamber. Negative pressure is something that I think has been ignored as a significant influence on incomplete combustion/ emissions, as adverse winter inversion conditions or general negative pressure conditions are dealt with separately from appliance testing, which manufacturers can get away with filters and air tubes not assessed in realistic consumer conditions.

A cowl doesn’t force the sale of new appliances though does it.

Appliance assessments here use the Condar method. They assess with rubbish pine fuel. People who have replaced have only been replacing fairly recent appliances. In a lot of cases all that has changed is the dampers are being stuck wide open, and the more complicated the appliance is down below, the more likely there will be back flow problems. Bob Fisher should have realised that a double combustion chamber requires more draw. Wet backs need more draw. The appliance tests don’t adequately assess draw!

Frankly, I think the OMNI/ EPA regime is a disaster, and the problems need to be fixed back in Underwriter Laboratories - as a safety standard! Forget about particulate matter. Focus on creosote. Maintain flue conditions throughout the burn cycle, in all winter conditions, and give our damper control back!

They do exist in the wild we have a pack living down the road from us that were fathered by a dog.

I have (don’t want) stinging nettle in my vegtable garden and I keep pulling it up.  But it replenishes faster than me!  At least from your article I now know what it is.

In partial answer to Judy’s comment, the original stump dies and gradually rots away. The new sprout is an individual stem that can be cut wherever desired. I believe that thinning the sprouts is a good idea. Simply pick the best formed individual, or pair, and cut the rest away. Of course, there will be resprouting and the pruning can go on for years, but the original selectively chosen stems will likely be dominant.

My experience is that red oak and red maple sprout vigorously and form something of a bush. The mature bush is difficult to cut as the many stems impede the saw. The bush generally is filled with weak and distorted stems that ore often of little use.

If you wish to non-chemically eliminate a tree that sprouts, the pruning and chopping of the stump can go on for years before the sprouting ceases.

I enjoy your stories.

When coppicing is used as a continuing harvesting method, where is each successive cut made?  A new cut made below the original would gradually shorten the original stump, a new cut made above the original cut would lead to many smaller stumps on top of the original stump, and a cut exactly along the original cut must have it’s own difficulties.

Also, since there would likely be many sprouts, are the sprouts thinned and which ones?

Great article, thank you for taking the time to write it.

These things have been the centre of many a nightmare for me! I moved to Alberta in 1988 and 3 days later spotted my first one…. I have been bitten but I’m scared more of them just landing on me! Jennifer is right! They are everywhere in Alberta and I have not been able to enjoy a summer since I was 11 years old! I hate these things sooooooooooo much! I am looking for info on their life cycle and such so I can enjoy some summer this year!

Any time you want to get a hive all you have to do is smoke the hive enough so that it thinks it must move for a fire. That has been a old enemy of honey bees for thousands of years. So when you smoke them, have a hive box sitting there ready to go. This means you must have brood trays in brood box and ideally some full or partly full trays of honey in the top. Also -  very important -  put in a queen excluder, or anything else you feel you need before adding bees. It not only is easier on you, it is not good to go back into a hive once you have bees. Smoke the hive and they will start to look for a new home.You will see several groups of bees around the area forming clusters. Scrap them into your box gently and leave them alone. Come back the next day and they will be in your box, the queen and all the honey from their old hive will in be in your box, too.

Many oak trees in our area still have some dead leaves on them, even high up on the older trees.  It is almost July.  Is this a sign of distress?

Living on Long Island I’ve firsthand seen decline of the Pine Barrens. There has been much development built, and it sadly continues, since the developers influence the politicians, and even so called environmental groups. Because of all the development, fires are put out quickly, and the pines are starting to get shaded out by oaks, maples, and sassafras trees.

Fortunately every now and then nature allows a fire to be unstoppable, such as in 1995 in Westhampton and Rocky Point, and as a result, those areas remain Pitch Pine dominant. Pitch Pine is a beautiful tree that comes in a lot of great shapes, and I don’t understand the love affair with White Pine as a landscaping tree, especially after Sandy, when all the White Pines have got salt burn, and the Pitch Pines are green as always.

20 June, late afternoon, I cut the grass and there was a section of
1 1/2 feet buttercups that I cut as well.  Had itchy left cheek and rubbed with the clean bumpy latex glove.  Hours later it was very itchy and had small pus like bumpy rash. Went to Doctor Friday 21st got Fucidin Cream and Antihistine for 2 weeks.  Still itchy 3 days later. Is there a faster cure for the face and does this spread? Read vinegar is good to kill the roots in soil. I put Weed Killer. Will check results in 2 days.

How can we humanely trap snapping turtles in our pond ?  The fish are depleting rapidly -  especially bluegill. The blue heron gave up!! Please advise. Thanks

I really enjoyed and appreciate the wise comments shared about Christmas Tree farming. We planted 1500 trees the first year and another 1000 trees the second most of which I’m planning to harvest as lumber.  Talk about a long wait for your ROI.  Now I plant around 100 trees each spring on my 10 acre part-time tree farm.  Am I the only one that never factored in all the mowing and constant removal of thorn bushes which grow 10x faster than the trees? I must say that I love digging live 4’ft white spruce in the fall. It’s good exercise and quite the change from my weekday job as a systems analyst.

Today my friend hiked up to the fire watchtower on Hogback Mt. My mother says that the tower was moved there from Bald Mt, in Townshend, Vt.. she remembers climbing up the fire tower in Townshend when she was a little girl in about third grade. She is now 87 years old. I’m not sure how to research this bit of trivia. Thank you.

We have a Brandywine Maple. It is still dormant other than suckers. What if anything can we do to save it?

Have just read this article. Really enjoyed learning about these two different kinds of rabbits. I live in Maryland and have many rabbits in my yard and was wondering if the New England Cottontail is able to live in Maryland. Also, the picture in the article states it is an Eastern Cottontail but says it has a black spot on its forehead, I might not have read this correctly but in the article it states just the opposite. Thanks for a very interesting article.

That’s as good a description of the bore cut as I’ve seen. It is a skill that is useful both in felling trees and bucking firewood. Be aware that if you have a “safety” chain on your saw, you will not be able to make bore cuts. Chain needs to be sharp and cutting smoothly. You can make bore cuts from both sides if the diameter of the tree is greater than the blade length, with a little practice. Wide angle at the notch lets the tree fall all the way without breaking the hinge—good for control. If Game of Logging training is available, I highly recommend it!

We live in northern Alberta in Canada and these bugs are everywhere once summer comes. My son gets bitten at least once a summer by these things and it turns really red, swells and the skin turns very hot. After a couple of days the bite starts to ooze clear fluid for quite a few days. I hate them!

In response to Marlo Bangaoil: It’s hard to answer your question without seeing the situation. If you can cut the comb off and hold a big box under it to catch everything, you’ll probably get the queen. Perhaps it would be best to drop the whole thing into an empty new hive and then after they have settled in you could add another hive body with frames and slowly encourage them to move into that one. They might leave your hive and go back to their original location. They have a clear idea of where “home” is and will go there even after it’s been wrecked.

Much better would be to find a local beekeeper and get him or her to help you.