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  1. KTSmith

    Lyme disease info.

    All true, but be aware that "regular" infectious disease specialists take umbrage at the thought of being considered *not* lyme literate. Don't burn bridges ahead of you. Indeed, Lyme has changed my life more than several flavors of cancer and chronic pancreatitus. No, I'm no expert except in my...
  2. KTSmith

    European Plum tree needs help.

    Evo's got it, I bet. I didn't think of black knot, which of course is all around me here in northern New England!
  3. KTSmith

    European Plum tree needs help.

    How does this Venturiaceous fungus present itself, like apple scab?
  4. KTSmith

    Gypsy mother caterpillar no more!

    Ha, yes, Al Shigo objected strongly to voicing the "i" in "arboriculture" and he'd use the example of "parliament". Back in '82 or '83, I foolishly spent too much time with the Oxford English Dictionary to identify the sources of spelling and pronounciation of those words and prepared a written...
  5. KTSmith

    Mycorrhizal Fungi for Tree health???

    Eyehearttrees, Sounds like inoculation to me! And that's what I recommend too! In some misplaced sense of fairness, I'd like to respond on ATH and Tom D.'s comments, above. First, I agree completely. Second, the early research on mycorrhizal innoculants was to rehabilitate totally devastated...
  6. KTSmith

    Gypsy mother caterpillar no more!

    Exactly Evo. My idealized concept of myself includes a generous spirit of social cooperation, inclusivity, and kindness. No, that self concept does not include the intentional or careless castigation or ridicule of entire groups of people. Sure, I've never meant to disparage anyone when I use a...
  7. KTSmith

    Sooty bark on maple, horse chestnut, dog wood and more

    Thanks for the nudge! The human disease from contact with the causal fungus of sooty bark disease was considered quite rare when first described (in the 1960s, I believe), but it continues to occur! A sticky part of management is that the Cryptostroma corticale fungus can persist as a latent...
  8. KTSmith

    BLD in Maine

    Sad to say, but the Maine Forest Service has announced identification of beech leaf disease in the state...
  9. KTSmith

    Please help to ID tree

    Thanks Kingfurook for the images! That's part of what we try to do here, to get folks to pay attention to what the diagnostic characteristics are. Often, the ID is then an easy call, based on readily available evidence as with this one, with alternating branching pattern plus a chambered pith...
  10. KTSmith

    Please help to ID tree

    From ATH, above: "Can you get a twig? Cut it to look at the pith." Although a cross-section can show the chambering, a lengthwise cut along the branchlet/twig diameter can be quite exciting to see!
  11. KTSmith

    Something wrong with my River Birch

    Oooh, I like that call. My kneejerk response to the image was "What's causing the sooty mold"? The OP should look closely at those white patches, particularly on the margins with green tissue. If the patches look like thick paint splatter in 3-D, ATH made the right call.
  12. KTSmith

    Diseased oaks?

    Thanks for the prompt, Guy. I missed an opportunity here, for which I will attempt to recoup: In my observation and with reference to established forest pathology research, trees with Strumella Canker Disease do not "grow out" of the diseased condition. But yes indeed, a standoff does occur...
  13. KTSmith

    Another Tree ID request..

    Thanks bklysen for the images, they do indeed help! You probably have the information you need for smoking meat, but some folks might like to hear about the botany. There are about 25-30 "good" species of shrub or tree-form Prunus (cherry, in a broad sense) in the northeast US. Most of us...
  14. KTSmith

    Anyone know what kind of maple this is?

    So sorry, my sense of direction may well be askew! These new-fangled zip codes!
  15. KTSmith

    Another Tree ID request..

    In-focus closeup images of lowers, leaves, branchlets, and bark could quickly spark a more confident reply. My immediate response was pin cherry (Prunus pennsylvanica) but maybe it should be wild black cherry (P. serotina). But for your purposes, perhaps, that's close enough. New threads on wood...
  16. KTSmith

    Anyone know what kind of maple this is?

    Looks to be a red maple, Acer rubrum. I hasten to add this is a pretty variable species and there are cultivars and hybrids out there, which are beyond my familiarity. As for what to expect and for any necessary corrections to ID, I'll defer to buzzers in the northern Midwest!
  17. KTSmith

    Picture diagnosis

    Two points: 1. The path of least resistance for electrical current in wood is a function of the concentration of dissolved mobile ions in aqueous solution. Pure water is an electrical insulator, not a conductor. Pure, clean wood is also not a good conductor. Electrical conduction follows the...
  18. KTSmith

    Diseased oaks?

    Thanks for the opportunity to cite a Dave Houston article. He was Alex Shigo's supervisor in the FS in the early 1960's, and had a big hand in Shigo's early Forest Service publications. Curiously in turn, I worked with Dave on Sapstreak Disease of maple in the 1990s and was Dave's final FS...
  19. KTSmith

    Diseased oaks?

    Thanks Serf Life for the call out! Entirely consistent with Strumella canker, although perhaps not obligately so. A good description of the disease is in Dave Houston's 1966 article here. I don't have the Sinclair and Lyons text here at my home office, so I can't check that. There are often...
  20. KTSmith

    Diagnosing Grand Fir Disorder

    Some pictures of the root/stem flare might help, especially if Armillaria is to be included/excluded. Hard to exclude, I admit. What does "good fertilizer" mean? I don't mean brand names, but what would you recommend in terms of types or sorts?

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