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  1. KTSmith

    Giving Opinions on Diseases / Tree Health, etc. When You Are NOT a Certified Arborist

    I'm sure this topic has come up many times since I've been 'buzzing, but I don't see those threads in the archive, though they must be there! Here are my choices: Anything by Alex Shigo, A New Tree Biology particularly. The Body Language of Trees by Claus Mattheck (2015) Diseases of Trees and...
  2. KTSmith

    Tree sprout with two different leaves

    I'll take a stab at it: Oak seeedling and that is indeed a seed-leaf or cotyledon. I'm pretty confident but I'm also frequently mistaken!
  3. KTSmith

    red cedar tree fungus

    Quite right JD, eradication of the alternate host is a legitimate preventative for macro-cyclic rusts. What's interesting and potentially confounding is the assignment of "primary" and "alternate" or "secondary" status. For practical purposes, those labels are assigned with the crop plant being...
  4. KTSmith

    red cedar tree fungus

    I've seen cedar-quince rust only on the alternate host (quince), but that fits! I don't know of a satisfactory treatment for a symptomatic tree, but I defer to those with experience!
  5. KTSmith

    Hey Look at My Crud...

    Or Phellinus weirii? Looks a bit more laminated than pocket-y. You guys have more experience with these than I do.
  6. KTSmith

    Hey Look at My Crud...

    For JZack, I'm sure that is all mighty slimey, but I bet it is a mixed culture of ascomycetous yeast fungi there! For ConeCollector, I'm with ATH with the concept of repeated wounding (which is what ring shake is all about). However, I wouldn't use the term here, necessarily. "Ring shake" is...
  7. KTSmith

    Tree Appears Healthy, But Ants Up and Down Trunk

    I like Evo's notion. So much goes on about which we are unaware! As for carpenter ants, they excavate dead wood (an preferably a bit decayed) to produce the gallery and trail structure of the colony. Yes, they do chew up large quantities of wood in the process, but they don't gain substantial...
  8. KTSmith

    KT Smith webinar 4/1/21

    Thanks for the kind words, Colb. Presenting via Zoom is like presenting blindfolded, without having live participants up close and personal to observe and play off. I can’t watch the chat box and rap at the same time. Still, was fun to do and fun to have behind me.
  9. KTSmith

    KT Smith webinar 4/1/21

    I'm counting on that! I've asked one of the organizers to field the chatbox, and he's likely not in on the plot. Sounds good.
  10. KTSmith

    KT Smith webinar 4/1/21

    Thanks for the support! Well, this is a new venue for me. I'm told to target this at the Master Gardener / Skilled Enthusiast level. Might be elementary for my TB friends, we'll see. I certainly intend to have fun with it!
  11. KTSmith

    What is the name of this burr?

    The common cocklebur made renown as a model system to study "short-day" periodism of flowering. They'll grow vegetatively fine until the length of day drops below a critical threshold, and then they go all-in for flowering and fruit production. Great for parlor tricks. The funny thing is that...
  12. KTSmith

    What is the name of this burr?

    I almost asked first as to how deep you need to go! OK then, a frequently-consulted text using classical ID characters is Love and others (1959). The recent molecular treatment (Tomasello 2018) recognizes 5 species, I believe. I don't know what sort of access y'all have to research literature...
  13. KTSmith

    What is the name of this burr?

    Genus Xanthium, most likely. Also, most likely to be the common (X. strumarium) or spiny (X. spinosum) cocklebur. Making that call requires a close look at arrangements of the various parts, sketched out here. There are other species too, to delight the experts.
  14. KTSmith

    Swollen branch on box elder

    A lengthwise pass or two through a bandsaw would answer some questions and likely ask a couple more! JD and all, speaking of spalting, I coauthored an article on the topic that made the cover of this month's issue of Materials & Design which is linked here. First time in a "Materials Science"...
  15. KTSmith

    Poplar fungus and rot column

    Thanks SL, yes, you've got it. Most workers now would refer to it as the segregate species: Phellinus laevigatus or Phellinus tremulae, both formerly considered varities of P. igniarius. I still call it "igniarius" in my head. A white rotter, it can't really handle the high moisture content of...
  16. KTSmith

    What is on this chestnut oak?

    I know, I should leave well enough alone. But in the interest of trying to be helpful, Diatrype stigma fits those images as well. Same family (Xylariaceae) but distinctly different...at least distinctly different under the microscope.
  17. KTSmith

    What is on this chestnut oak?

    I'd also have to go with Biscogniauxia. Looks to be pretty much classic "Hypoxylon canker", as I was first taught the name. The pictures clearly show the black carbonaceous stromata which contain the flask-shaped perithecia or sexual fruiting structures. Seasonally, a dusty grey and patchy...
  18. KTSmith

    What's this horrible growth on my neighbor's oak tree?

    No Nmurphy, looks to me to be patches of harmless epiphytic lichen. Again, the photos are inadequate.
  19. KTSmith

    What's this horrible growth on my neighbor's oak tree?

    A wound from something! Indeed JZack, phytopthora canker can produce an ooze associated with discrete cankers. Here, it is associated with that seam and unlike phytopthora canker in appearance. On the plus side, the woundwood ribs look reasonably vigorous at the tree base. Lots of factors go...
  20. KTSmith

    What's this horrible growth on my neighbor's oak tree?

    Sorry, but the photos don't show sufficient detail to comment on anything other than the apparently roughened bark. I do see the slime flux. Does it have a smell? I can say, that if structural stability is the question, you need that "firm dependable wood" around the stem circumference, not deep...

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