Sad day for woods

lily51 · Wed Feb 11, 2015 8:51 am

We have a couple different woods on our farms, each with different dominant trees which seems strange, but it's true. The 10 acre woods closest to the house, the one I love the most, the one the kids and I walked in and had cookouts beside is dominated by ash trees. Through the years all the ash trees have become infested with the emerald ash borer to varying degrees. As I look out the window beside the office, I can see the ash logs being stacked by the road. There will be 5 dozen of them once they are done. I know the woods will still have many trees and that it will fill itself in over time, but some of these ash trees were the largest in the woods.

rainbowgardener · Wed Feb 11, 2015 9:15 am

It is indeed a sad day for your woods and for forests in general.

We are fighting outbreaks of emerald ash borer, Asian long-horned beetle, Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, gypsy moth, forest tent caterpillar, and a variety of other non-native diseases and insects such as sudden oak death, pitch canker disease, the goldspotted oak borer and the light brown apple moth, etc etc.

They are spreading due to a combination of climate change and globalization, meaning that so many products including live plants, tree products, cardboard boxes in which pests can live, etc are being shipped all over the world, every day, carrying pests with them.

All our forests are fighting for their lives!!

applestar · Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:39 am

Wow that's going to significantly change your landscape view and I can understand how you would feel nostalgic over their demise.

Let's hope the people who are cutting the affected trees down will keep the woods and care for the remaining trees so they will be able to grow to THEIR potential.

lily51 · Wed Feb 11, 2015 5:24 pm

Luckily those harvesting the trees know what they are doing. Anyone who didn't know the trees were taken out would not blink an eye looking at the woods. It's always surprising just how many trees are actually there.
All I can say is to buy things made of ash since it will be a thing of the past like the American Elm.

jtriph · Sun Feb 22, 2015 2:16 pm

I am a new member. I usually only read stuff. This is my very first post. We just built a house last year on 3-1/2 acres and when it was time to clear the wooded lot, we asked that only the trees where the house and shop were going, and room for a small yard, should be removed and we wanted to keep the rest. For privacy or just ya know, to be surrounded by trees. To make a long story short, they cleared the entire lot of all the pine trees. Now I am trying to figure out what kind of trees to plant, how to plant them, how to make sure they are healthy, etc. I have never planted a tree in my life. I am planning to plant ALOT of them. I really feel your pain on the loss of your trees. I hate to see trees getting cut, especially slow growing hard woods. I hope you and the kids can still have fun out there.

lily51 · Mon Feb 23, 2015 10:08 pm

jtriph wrote:I am a new member. I usually only read stuff. This is my very first post. We just built a house last year on 3-1/2 acres and when it was time to clear the wooded lot, we asked that only the trees where the house and shop were going, and room for a small yard, should be removed and we wanted to keep the rest. For privacy or just ya know, to be surrounded by trees. To make a long story short, they cleared the entire lot of all the pine trees. Now I am trying to figure out what kind of trees to plant, how to plant them, how to make sure they are healthy, etc. I have never planted a tree in my life. I am planning to plant ALOT of them. I really feel your pain on the loss of your trees. I hate to see trees getting cut, especially slow growing hard woods. I hope you and the kids can still have fun out there.

Visiting a local nursery would be a place to start, as would the county extension agency or soil and water conservation. All these deal with the local habitat, what does well and how to go about planting trees.
You might want to think about what the purpose of the trees is...shade, mainstream, appearance, attracting birds, future tree harvest, food source, etc. With 3 acres you could have some different areas for different uses.
It's nice to see someone that appreciates trees. I have lived them since I can remember.
We can still enjoy the woods, but now it's with grandkids! Time flies.

jtriph · Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:33 pm

Lily, on your suggestion, I went to my local extension. They gave me lots of good info and told me about an upcoming native shade tree sale coming up. Each spring, every district in the state sales a bundle of five small trees at just a couple of dollars to encourage planting. So I am impatiently awaiting the big sale so I can start my tree "collection". Just wanted to say thanks for the suggestions.