What's Wrong with the Trees?

[Island Girl]

I have a couple of trees with the leaves turning brown. I noticed on the way back to MA that many trees are in this condition.

Has anyone else noticed? Does anyone know what is happening to them?


IG

[kayakn]

We had a good frost one night after the leaves started. I have friends who noticed this all the way down the seacoast. It happened last week. Maybe why...

[Hughie]

I haven't seen the NH damage, but here in CT tender not hardened off newly flushed leaves on trees and shrubs have suffered leaf burns. The damage due to temperatures that fell on Tuesday May 11 into the 20's in many interior locations in New Engalnd. During the first few days of May many locations were near 80 combined with warmer than normal April temperatures the trees and shrubs pushed alot of new tender growth. That growth was damaged and will drop off. Most plants will push new growth again but will be setback this growing season.
Crop damage to Fruit trees occurs with these extreme temperature changes. We can only hope for the best for our growers this growing season.

[Argie's Wife]

Ah ha! That explains what happened to the bamboo in my back yard... I've been trying to kill that crap for years. THANK YOU MOTHER NATURE!

I thought Argie had sprayed it with something but he denied it... It looked that *dead*.... (I'm not heartbroken, if you can't tell...) I'd forgotten about the frost...

[Pepper]

Originally Posted by Argie's Wife

Ah ha! That explains what happened to the bamboo in my back yard... I've been trying to kill that crap for years. THANK YOU MOTHER NATURE!

...

I wish I could find a way to kill the bamboo in my back yard too!

[lawn psycho]

Originally Posted by Pepper

I wish I could find a way to kill the bamboo in my back yard too!

Cut it down and then use Ortho Ground Clear. Probably going to take 2 applications but it will kill it.

[The Eagle]

Hi Gang,
If you have the same probelm we have in MA, it's NOT the cold. Remember last December all the "Months" around your lights at night? Well, that's when they lay their eggs. They started hatching their young early. If the trees are "Oak," and especially the Apple and Fruit Trees, it's their young devouring them. Look around for pieces of the leaves on the ground and very small "little black chips," (it looks like someone spilled pepper) that's the worm Poop! All along Route 3 North, notice the trees that look like they are not sprouting leaves. They already did sprout and those worms (Very small green worms) are destroying them. I haven't seen them in my pard in Moultonboro, but in MA, they are everywhere! (Another reason NOT to bring fire wood into NH, from other states, as they may carry the eggs on them).
"The Eagle"

[Argie's Wife]

We did have a bad frost here about a week ago...

This bamboo is at ground level, about four feet high, and right in my back yard... no caterpillar tracks anywhere...

In short, I don't think it's exactly the same problem.

[Island Girl]

There are no holes in the leaves or leaf pieces on the ground. I live throught the devestation of the trees in NE by gypsy moths in the 70's and still look for that type of problem each year.

This is different, the edges of the leaves are brown and the leaves are turning yellow. A small maple is turning red.

It looks like fall.

IG

[jmen24]

Originally Posted by Island Girl

There are no holes in the leaves or leaf pieces on the ground. I live throught the devestation of the trees in NE by gypsy moths in the 70's and still look for that type of problem each year.

This is different, the edges of the leaves are brown and the leaves are turning yellow. A small maple is turning red.

It looks like fall.

IG

IG, you are correct, it is not the worms. The maples are turning a redish brown and a few other early birds are turning yellow, the Beech trees. Mostly caused by the snap frost a week or so ago. It will take a little while but most will come back this year. The small maples (under 2") may not as they cannot handle the stress like other trees can.

I have a Weeping Cherry that was in full bloom just before the frost and now looks very bad. Just about time for a feeding anyway so hopefully that will get things rolling again. Luckily the Bleeding Hearts were not bothered by the frost and are coming in real nice.

The funniest thing about the way the weather has been is that our Rose of Sharon has just barely started showing buds this weekend. Very late to the game this year, but a very good thing in the long run, given the way the year has started out.

[Island Girl]

I would be so sad if this beech died. It is my most beautiful tree and provides nice shade for the dock all summer long. Was this frost particulary bad? We can have frost anyting before June 1 and I do not ever remember this happening.

Speaking of bugs, a large tree at my Mom's house in Burlington, MA is being chewed up. I hope it survives.

When I was a kid it was just a stick and looked dead. My parents were going to cut it down. They gave in to my Grandfather who said not to worry it was alive and would do well.

Anyone who was around in the 1970's remembers the complete devestation to New England trees. You could swear you heard them munching (it was their continuous droppings making the noise). Many trees survived and refoliated with huge leaves by the end of the summer. Many trees did not make it.

When the moths completed eating every leaf in site, they went for the evergreens which did not survive as well.

Ugh.. I will never forget how awful everything looked and the large swaths of brown on the driveways and streets that got very sticky when it rained..

IG

[Natt]

That bamboo stuff is called Japanese Knotweed. It is terribly invasive. Make sure that if you use any equipment to cut it down that NO pieces remain on the mower or whatever, because it will spread from just a small cutting. My dad used to try to kill it with herbicides, to no avail. Try vinegar. White vinegar mixed half and half with water. Dump it on well, so the roots get it too. Works for a small area, but it is difficult stuff.

[The Eagle]

Hi Island Girl,
Burlington is where I live! That's what's killing the trees, down there, the worms. Up here, they are probably right about frost, since they have no "poop" falling. I DO remember in 1979 when the Gypsy Catapillers invaded NE. In Burlington you COULD heard them munching, and the poop (when it rained) was slipperry, just like ICE in the driveways. It was as thick as the Canadian Geese Poop. There's nothing we can do either, because they are everywhere. I live off "Cambridge Street," near "Pinehurst."
"The Eagle"

[JonLevis]

I have catepillars like crazy in my yard this year (SE Mass). A couple of my "pretty" trees have been eaten down to the branches, and no matter how many times I wash my truck, it is still covered in poop! Can actually hear it falling on a quiet night.

[The Eagle]

When we were "invaded" by the Gypsy Moth Caterpillers, we found the only (safest for the environment) way to kill them is to mix up some "Dish detergent" (Like Ivory Liquid) with water, and spray them. It blocks their pores and kills them. It works really well, and FAST. They just curl up and fall off the trees.
"The Eagle"

[SIKSUKR]

Originally Posted by Natt

That bamboo stuff is called Japanese Knotweed. It is terribly invasive. Make sure that if you use any equipment to cut it down that NO pieces remain on the mower or whatever, because it will spread from just a small cutting. My dad used to try to kill it with herbicides, to no avail. Try vinegar. White vinegar mixed half and half with water. Dump it on well, so the roots get it too. Works for a small area, but it is difficult stuff.

I have some of it at my mill building in Manch and it is very hard to eradicate. This stuff grows right through 4 inches of asphalt we put down. When treating it I found that fall(after its done growing) is the best time so the herbicide gets to the roots instead of heading up the plant.

[CrawfordCentury]

Aside from both being pests, they have in common their invasiveness.

Gypsy moths were imported here in an effort to create a domestic silk industry. A few went on the lam, got busy, did the be fruitful and multiply thingy...and voila!

I seem to remember a road in Haverhill, Mass. was so thick with the kittypillers that they caused accidents. I was 7 or 8 during the worst of the plague - and remember well that greenish ooze that came outta them. We used to step on their bums til their heads popped of, with a torrent of ooze coming outta them - prolly what the devil makes condemned souls use for toothpaste.

After a couple years, some virus whacked them down good. They'd stop in their tracks, go limpy, and that was it.