Site Discussions

Hey folks, I was just on a recent foray with Dr. Rick Van Der Poll (not sure if I spelled this correctly). He is a well respected authority on mycology. One of the other participants brought this fungus in. We did not get to try brewing any tea as it takes over night to make. He says it has a somewhat strong flavor and a little goes a long way. If anyone is interested in making a tea with it you would do well to find a proper recipe.  And as with any mushroom or fungus be sure you know what you ARE REALLY EATING and only try a small amount in case you have allergic reactions to a particular one.

We have 8 large, old oak trees…and have often wondered why their leaves just seem to hang around and hang around….except for the multi-billions on the ground that we rake into huge piles. I can use SOME as mulch, but most get sucked up by big city machine that then takes them to the landfill to be turned into topsoil. Your article and the various theories are quite interesting. A few oaks are native to the tallgrass prairies here…perhaps after a long cold winter the remaining leaves added nutrients to give the prairie grasses a boost?
A related topic: acorns. Many more than usual this fall. A Master Gardener suggested the trees felt stressed by the drought and produced more “babies” to ensure long-term survival. Any thoughts?

To answer your question from Montana: this is not a birch-only phenomenon; you can find these conks on all species of birch, as well as on hophornbeam and occasionally on other hardwoods.

This sort of looks like something in my backyard but I attributed it to pine beetles. I know my grass but trees not so much. Is this a Birch only phenomenon?

I vote for standardizing the classification of maple syrup, but I would vote to keep it simple…Light, Medium, Dark and Extra Dark.

I had heard it somewhere that the singing of the birds wakes up the trees in the morning.
Can you comment on this?
Thankyou
Connie danner

“The European starling was brought here by Eugene Schieffelin, a New York drug wholesaler, who thought it would be really cool to have all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare flying around in American skies. In King Henry IV, Hotspur refers to the mimicry of the starling and says “Nay, I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but ‘Mortimer’ ….” Schieffelin released 60 in Central Park in 1890 and another 40 in 1891. Unlike most of the Shakespearean birds he introduced, the starlings “took.” In a few years, they could be found from coast to coast.”

—This from Michele Patenaude’s 2010 piece on Pigeons. Check it out at: http://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/birds-too-close-for-comfort

As a lover of maple syrup my guess is that,barring “tradition”  the new system is more descriptive to the consumer than the “old method”. My tastebuds are the real test of the product.  And in my opinion, all of the grades are delicious.

I think the proposed new system makes sense. Calling a spade a spade, as it were.

I don’t see mention of grade C, though, which is reminiscent of caramel syrup and absolutely yum!

I whole-heartedly support the effort to standardize the maple grading system. My only concern is that once the rest of the word figures out that the very dark syrup (currently “grade b”) is just as good as “grade A” syrup, it will sell out of our sugarhouse even faster.

Thanks for this article. You say that non-native starlings nested in many of the boxes. Where are this starlings native to and, if you know, how did they come to live here? Thanks.

I’m not a syrup producer, just a consumer.  Since I live in Maine I buy only Maine maple syrup, so the different names are not an issue for me.  But I do think standardizing the names is a good idea (and especially getting rid of the overly positive- or negative-sounding names) for distributors and consumers living in non-producing states or countries.  And you’re right, I’ve never lost sleep over this issue.

I have two mature Pinus Rigida less than two miles from the Pacific.
Trees have three needles, female cones and winged seeds.

Wish to replace mature Italian Stone Pines and their invasive roots with Pitch Pines in front, but no local source of 24” boxes.

A nursery in TN sells 3-4’ bare root, which may work for my hillside in back, but if you know of any SoCal source, would appreciate a steer.

Sometimes we have to back up and take a different route.Good story.Lucky enough, I have natural gas, but that will get out of control in time.Being in the HVAC buisness, I never liked oil heat unless it was for fast heating hot water for industry.

I can not say thank you enough Northern Woodlands… for both running this article that Mike Freeman has so eloquently written and for Dave Mance’s “editors note” spot-on analysis of the current quandary the trapping community is finding itself in.  Emotions no doubt can run exceedingly high when the conversation turns to trapping.  Dave identified the Animal Rights alignment with environmental organizations, which is a strategy that’s payed off huge dividends for them - but is threatening modern conservation as well know it.  We are now seeing results of that “poisoning of the well” by Animal Rights philosophies seeping in and ironically leveraging the very thing that has bound together the North American Conservation’s Wildlife Conservation model for over 100 years! - diversity and competing interests.  The old saying goes “divide and conquer” and that is exactly what’s happened here…. unfortunately trapping is only the low hanging fruit.  Furbearer trapping has a rightful place on the rural landscape, no different than dairy farming or raising free-range chickens, but until the true AR movement’s agenda is commonly known and understood by the general population, it will be a battle for survival.  I’ll place my bet on a trapper every time.

cheers!

Is there a chemical that will remove marescent leaves from a tree?  some witch hazels retain their leaves and hide the flowers

Thanks for the great article. I have black birch in relative abundance in a 50 acre woodlot. It is happily growing among sugar maples and red oaks and beech. The soil type is slightly acidic deep and loamy. I’m in the Hudson Valley somewhat and experience climate changes slightly delayed from surrounding hills.

This tree has been marked as a favorite in my woods. I now keep a keen eye on its growth. I have harvested a few weaker trees for firewood study to learn the characteristics of the wood.  In a book by Rebecca Rupp called, “Red Oaks, Black Birches” she has stated that Honey is also used in a fermentation on the birch beer recipe. As this tree seems to produce large amounts of sap. The scent of wintergreen can be easily detected all the way down to the base of the tree. The scent does fade as the wood seasons.

Its also quite fascinating the same oil of wintergreen is extracted from the tree as well as the wintergreen plant that forms a low groundcover in the Adirondack Mnts. As children we used to chew on the leaves of the plant.

Thanks for the information on the sawmill statistics. Have never come across any info on the wood drying process. Not seen at sawmills anywhere and wondered why such gorgious wood is not timber harvested.

Unfortunately the tree fights for space in the canopy and grows toward available light. Making it not so straight as its taller neighbors.

For BTU’s its impressively competing with hickory and white oak. But feel its value is better served at the sawmill. Its heavier than black cherry and exposure to air gives it the same hue.(further studies from here)

Love the Botanical illustration…I keep those items for personal reference and feel that is what makes your magazine very collectable. Keep up the great work!!

John Ewing- I was stung by a paper wasp also this summer, and like your wife, my foot and ankle swelled terribly and the pain and swelling lasted about a week, then a week of itching. I get bit a couple times a summer and have always used a paste of baking soda and water and placed it on the sting area, where it sucks out the venom and probably the stinger too. Why I didn’t do that this summer I’ll never know but you can believe I will use that paste next time…and there WILL be a next time!

Hello, everyone, my name is Joe Rankin. I wrote the article on wasps and perhaps can answer some, though not all, of the questions posed.

Judith: I rarely react much to honeybee venom, but then, I get stung fairly frequently. Not every day, but fairly frequently. I once asked the Maine State Apiarist, Tony Jadczak, why I seemed to react more to wasp stings. He said, simply, “different venom.” As Jane and Kim said, an allergist should be able to test you to see how you would react to honeybee stings. Given the cost of starting beekeeping, it would be worth a little bit of upfront investment in the test just in case. It’s good to keep in mind that it’s normal to swell up at the sting site and for it to turn red and itchy. Some people tell me they’re “allergic” to bees or wasps because that happens to them. I tell them that’s not an allergy. What you have to worry about is a whole-body reaction, where your airway narrows and you go into anaphylactic shock. I have never had that type of reaction to a bee or wasp sting. I DID have that type of reaction, possibly to eating swordfish, and was rushed by my wife to the ER. I fainted about the time the epinephrine went into my arm. It was scary. Particularly in how quickly it all unfolded. As Kim noted, just because you don’t show an unusual reaction to a sting this time, that doesn’t mean you won’t the next time. I know of at least a couple of beekeepers who had to give up keeping bees after developing a severe reaction after decades of beekeeping. My wife keeps urging me to buy an epi-pen in case that happens to me and I’m at a beeyard in the back of beyond. So far I haven’t, but… Also, it’s my understanding that an epi-pen isn’t a cure, it simply gives you time to call 911 or get to a hospital. I don’t know whether you can suddenly lose an allergy to stings. As part of the research for the article, I contacted Debbie Patterson, who with her husband Norman runs theyellowjacketexpert.com in Connecticut. Together they remove 300 to 500 nests a year in the northwestern part of the state using organic methods, including carbon dioxide and in-line traps. They sell the wasps to medical labs that extract the venom to use in venom desensitization treatments. Debbie told me she developed a severe reaction to certain kinds of ground nesting yellow jackets and underwent desensitization therapy. It worked, she said. She has since been stung, but didn’t have a severe reaction. That said, she now lets Norman collect those types of ‘jacket nests, though she does collect other types, including aerial yellowjackets.

John: I find that, for me, wasp stings hurt like crazy, swell up a lot, and the skin gets really red. The reaction also persists longer. But I think that your wife’s reaction is unusual. That’s a long, long time for it to still be swollen and tender. I would get her to call a doctor.

To Stephen and Rick:  Paper wasps and yellowjackets don’t reuse their nests from year to year, preferring to build anew. So, once everyone’s out, knock it down if you want. But keep in mind that a good nest location is a good nest location. You might get a new nest there next year, but it’s not because anyone’s returning to the old homeplace, like a salmon, but just because it meets the particular species’ requirements. There’s no way to predict whether the queens produced by your nest will even make it through the winter. That depends on a lot of factors. Rick, if the nest is that high up, and they aren’t bothering anyone, I wouldn’t do anything, this year or in the future, especially if you’ve already painted the cupola. But you’re right to not try to spray it with insecticide and then retreat. There’s no way to go down a ladder fast—except the wrong way.

P.J.: As to your sudden aggression question. I don’t really have the answer to that. Are you sure they are the same species? Some species are more aggressive than others and some yellowjackets, for instance, are hard to tell apart. If they are, perhaps it could be accounted for by a genetic component. I occasionally have to replace honeybee queens in order to “cool down” a “hot” hive. Then there are environmental factors: weather, availability of food, whether an animal or a human is keeping them stirred up. Any of those and many more, of course. Once again, I look to myself and note how quickly I can become angry or frustrated. All beings react to external as well as internal stimuli. In the case of wasps I always assume that they’re going to be aggressive and territorial, but I’m never disappointed when they’re not.

To Jane in Farmington:  Of course you can have a copy of the article and thank you for the compliment.

For many years I have lived with yellow jackets both under and on the doors of my shed.  When I had work to do I could open the doors and the outliers (you called them bouncers) would reposition to the new location.  My starting the ATV in the shed never seemed to bother them. That is until this year when they came after me on opening the door. I wonder why the sudden aggression.