Mistletoe, any cure?

Yes schedule the work for Novemeber so you can sell it for the holidays. same with pruning/removing needled evergreens, holly etc--twill be the season for selling it!

"Another method of direct control that has been tried is removing shoots and covering the affected part of the branch with creosote or opaque material, such as tar paper. However, none of these has been particularly effective."

Kevin, the first paper had a lot of good description, but the above leaves more questions than answers. Lack of supporting detail makes it sound like anecdote/hearsay--how could covering it be ineffective, if it is unable to send shoots through the cover?

The second paper just repeats the same, and ends with a shrug. It does not appear very useful (I'm learning to be nice here).

Bad manners, Blinko? I hope not--though I do remember a helper yelling at me "Everything's a &%^up to you!" one time when he ^*&%ed up. My neuropsychologist friend sez i should dish 7 compliments for every criticism; nice advice and something to work toward--3:1 seems almost doable.
 
Good point Guy, neither of those sources I listed were especially encouraging, I suppose. I included the first one just as an example of Frank Hawksworth's work, who made a long US Forest Service career out of mistletoe. I think his work is still regarded internationally as being pretty definitive. The second one I included because I share the concept that mistletoe is part of our native environment.
I don't live in mistletoe land, so I may not be adequately sympathetic to the problem.

I think part of the problem with coverage of the stem to prevent mistletoe from sprouting is determining how much to cover. You know more about this than I do.

My main reason to jump in was to respond to the described lack of info on mistletoe. Part of that problem is just the words we use. In pathology, we usually just refer to Arcuethobium vs. Phoradendron mistletoes to distinguish dwarf from leafy. In fact, I never heard of "leafy" mistletoe until a few years ago. Once again, the problem in using "common names" is that we don't always share them in common!


I'd welcome efforts to take our understanding of mistletoe and its control further than Hawksworth did. I'll be more of a consumer than producer of the results of those efforts!
 
Its actuly a protected plant over here, we cant fell the tree if theres Mistletoe on it! we have to brace it up and make it as safe as possible no matter how dangerous the tree is. Insane I think but thats the power of the biologists.
 
Thanks Andy, I don't think I knew that. Maybe a holdover from those elder mythic days of Loki and Frigga! Maybe it's the power of biologists or maybe the power of folklorists!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Insane I think but thats the power of the biologists.

[/ QUOTE ]I agree--this is the same mindset that calls for mutilation aka coronet cutting to make more habitat for decay-causing organisms.

Kevin I have not documented much mistletoe work so far but will try to during this coming season. The aesthetic concern is legitimate, but I will try to get away with using duct tape where possible. Very good point re how much to cover; often the haustoria bulge through and show green so scraping that off is a nobrainer.

Sometimes an edjakated guess is all you got.
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Thanks for the links Kevin, I'll follow those up, mistletoe is viewed in certain parks here in Oz as an indicator of other more complex problems of decline.
In part the approach to manage or reduce its impact is to attemp to deal with the broader decline.

Guy...
"this is the same mindset that calls for mutilation aka coronet cutting to make more habitat for bugs and crud."

Sometimes (as I am very sure you know)things are not quite as black and white as we'd like. Difficult to agree entirely with your description of fungi as crud when you consider the work of Paul Stamets and the evidence of the medicinal potential of a wood decay fungi like agarikon.

NOT saying I that creating coronet cuts or other such practices are necessary to maintain the population of the fungi in the wild, just that the descriptor crud is as troubling for me, as 'green waste' was for others.
 
[ QUOTE ]
the descriptor crud is as troubling for me, as 'green waste' was for others.

[/ QUOTE ]ok sean i edited that. still have not heard from any ancient tree folks on the proven commensalism of decay orgs. The fact they evolved together does not mean trees rely on them ergo they should stay or further yet be cultured at the expense of tree health.
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some folks do not like that opinion; it has turned tree brothers into raving eco-fanatics before so i should know better. semantics matter when the concepts attached are such hot buttons.
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i never liked 'green waste' either--it is biomass, right?

o and re mistletoe yes it can spread much faster here in NC than the usfs paper implies , and can indeed be part of a decline syndrome. Just shows to go ya; gotta fight the tree preservation battle on multiple fronts!
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The Oklahoma state flower has green leaves year round and even the stems are green indicating chlorophyll. Since "semantics matter" i thought i might play devil's advocate.
If mistletoe's haustorium is so closely interwoven with the host tree's xylem and phloem on which it grows, it stands to reason that some of a mistletoe's food production might be transferred back to the host tree at the same time the host is providing mistletoe with minerals and water absorbed from the soil.
This would suggest mistletoe is a sort of mutualist and not a strict parasite.
 
[ QUOTE ]
This would suggest mistletoe is a sort of mutualist and not a strict parasite.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like how you're thinking...devil's advocate! I love it. This is an interesting idea, but mistletoe are strictly obligate parasites.

Frank H. Tainter, Clemson Univ., published a neat feature article for the American Phytopathological Society in December 2002. "What does mistletoe have to do with Christmas"

It's a pretty neat article that it goes into the history of use, where it's native to, it's biology and physiology.
 
I believe mistletoe is described as a hemiparasite. I've always described it like having a live-in relative who has his own income, but doesn't pay the water bills. And he leaves the water running most of the time.
 
Right, and the foundation rots and the house falls down so what's the dif if he bought food?

i leave it in some trees where ornamental value is rated high and parasitism low--can be cute on lower branches of vigorous trees.

most of the time eradication is the responsible way.
 
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