I looked out back during the week and happened to see this guy lurking in one of the sick-lloking pine trees along the road... (seen through the relatively healthy green needles of the tree in our garden)
Hmmmm -- an omen, perhaps?
Hmmmm -- an omen, perhaps?
This is the same tree that I talked about my post, You Tarzan, Me Jayne.
We had reported two sick-looking trees located on the easement behind our back wall to the developer of our subdivision and they had sent a crew out to look at them. The crew pruned up some dead looking branches but they apparently didn't treat the underlying cause of the problem (an infestation of clearwing moth borers, according to the arborist we consulted).
As we saw the trees continue to deteriorate, with large patches of bark falling off, we were fearful for the health of our own tree, even though we had it treated, so we placed another call to the developer and asked them to come out and assess the situation again.
I was home from work today and was indoors around 10 this morning when I heard chain saws outside. Without even looking, I knew what was happening and, sure enough, suddenly there was a loud crack and one of the trees crashed to the ground.
The work crew made quick work of the poor tree and then turned their attentions to its neighbor...
You can see in the photo how bad it was looking.
It was down in less than 10 minutes and then the crew spent the next hour chopping it up and loading it up into a large van to haul away.
When I drove out to the store at lunch time, there was no mess and only a couple of stumps to show there had been trees there.
It's rather sad to lose part of what we consider to be our personal forest. But we both feel happier now and more optimistic for the health of our own tree, knowing that the two infested ones are down.
There are still a couple of pine trees out there and we are going to keep after the developer to get them treated and take care of them.
Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.
1 comment:
Turkey vulture--great idea for a Halloween post!
I've been out of pocket and am just catching up.
Sorry to hear you lost the two back trees. It's possible that their roots were damaged during all the construction--when large machinery drives under/around trees, it compacts the roots. The tree doesn't get as much nutrients then and is weakened, an easy target for disease and bugs. Glad you're treating yours. Layers of compost and mulch will help too.
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