Search results

  1. KTSmith

    Thoughts on Re-Topping a Topped Willow

    Willow being willow, it will likely continue to grow and be green long past any rational threshold of structural stability. But sure, what the OP presented as the HO desire is making the most of a bad situation. Yes, I'm with Reach, that this is risk mitigation with some degree of retention of...
  2. KTSmith

    Sad Maple

    I'm really unfamiliar with golden maple, but some of the leaves show classic interveinal bronzing. That symptom usually indicates a nutrient deficiency as noted above by L3VI. I'd add magnesium deficiency too. But it doesn't end there! Too much of even an essential chemical element can be toxic...
  3. KTSmith

    Strange (to me) double-decker mushroom

    Late to the party, once again. May well be schweinitzii. An alternative universe would be posed if the underside looked to be bluntly wrinkled rather than finely filled with tiny pores. Then, I'd check out Gomphus or the segregate Turbinellus.
  4. KTSmith

    Hey Look at My Crud...

    DMonn: Unfortunately, I'm pretty lame at puns and plays on words. I'm also pretty gullible and co-dependent, so there you go. Thanks all for listening.
  5. KTSmith

    Hey Look at My Crud...

    Thanks Reach for posting the link to "Fusicolla", I hadn't seen that term before. Sure, a mixed culture dominated by yeasts. Just as surely, there will be bacteria and a few budding ascomycetes as well. Is both epiphytic and saprophytic and doesn't harm [what's left of] the tree. Well, I suppose...
  6. KTSmith

    Sourwood?

    Should be easy when the flowers open. Flowers could be sourwood. Foliage looks more cherry-like. Rule out Prunus padus and related species.
  7. KTSmith

    Today....

    You bet, the asco experts consider the fungus that causes target canker to be native to North America as well as to northern Europe. That fungus was long-established as Nectria galligena but has had several transfers to now be cited as Neonectria ditissima. As with everything else, the more one...
  8. KTSmith

    Amherst MA Arbor Day observance

    Thanks, twice the expected turnout at Amherst College. Was it what they expected/requested? I don't know, but it was fun for me. Thanks here for you support.
  9. KTSmith

    Amherst MA Arbor Day observance

    I'll be speaking at the Amherst Arbor Day observance on Friday of this week, April28. Details here. Mostly about the effect of size on tree biology. Late notice to y'all, I know. I was thinking that this would be just with a few of the local civilians, but apparently not. No charge, no...
  10. KTSmith

    Strength loss in EAB infested trees

    That's true, the peat bog / carbon cycling project at the Marcell Experimental Forest studies...peat bogs. True, some ash like wet feet perhaps, but this is more black spruce / alder habitat. EAB as well as Chestnut Blight and Dutch Elm disease are studied by my coworkers particularly in...
  11. KTSmith

    Strength loss in EAB infested trees

    With respect to the "fall apart fast" angle, here is my take: (1) Ash wood does not resist decay by fungi and (2) Infestation by EAB and decay infection often occurs undiagnosed for several years. Consequently, there is loss of structural integrity while no one is looking. Seems to progress...
  12. KTSmith

    I like big butt(ress) and I cannot lie

    Such determination to keep going, even when the ground washes out beneath. It's all buying time, which is likely most of the story most of the time.
  13. KTSmith

    Lacebark Elm Issue

    I think that the top image shows interveinal chlorosis, particularly in the younger leaves. Now, apparent deficiencies in nutrition may reflect an insufficient root system rather than actual insufficiencies in the soil. This pattern of chlorosis is often associated with inadequate iron...
  14. KTSmith

    Practical pollarding techniques

    There is a real resurgence in interest in coppicing for animal fodder. Never a big deal in the US, even in colonial times, but 19th Century german forestry was all about that, much more than in cutting large sawlogs. I helped with a US project on that resulting in the book...
  15. KTSmith

    Help with IDing peach tree disease

    I don't think peach has been described as a host for fireblight. My colleague Sharon Douglas (now retired) at the Conn Ag Expt Station has this little factsheet for peach in New England: https://portal.ct.gov/CAES/Fact-Sheets/Plant-Pathology/Disease-Control-for-Home-Peach-Orchards. From the...
  16. KTSmith

    Looking to try my hand at fungal microscopy

    For definitive fungal ID of the oak wilt fungus (and many other phialidic imperfects), I like to do a slide culture of the isolated fungus. In that method, a microsope slide and cover slip are sterilized. Then, I cut a small cube/rectangle (maybe 2 x 2 mm) from the growing front of the isolated...
  17. KTSmith

    Looking to try my hand at fungal microscopy

    All true Greg with the ferns. I was greatly concerned as a child about knowing the names of the ferns and mosses. Watch out parents for obsessive interest in things botanical! Turned out OK for me.
  18. KTSmith

    Looking to try my hand at fungal microscopy

    Hi Ashton, I want to be helpful here and have scratched out several previous attempts to respond constructively. Have you any general microscope training or exposure? I'm not trying to grill you, but I know of no single guide that would lead an enthusiastic student to confident diagnostician...
  19. KTSmith

    What’s this?!

    Looks like Nectria to me. Just at the limit of the photo resolution (or my imagination), I think I see both perithecia of the sexual stage and sporodochia of the asexual stage (which historically was called Tubercularia). Yes, likely quite a range of physiotypes that all look pretty dang...
  20. KTSmith

    New study about photosynthesis

    Thanks Mark for posting this. I knew it was being worked on by Dalian group. I have three thoughts in rapid succession. 1. Ain't nature grand! Not only does evolution (through natural selection) transform physical energy into metabolic energy via chemical intermediates, it does that...

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom