Russ,
That is truly sad. If the deer don't get them, the adelgid will. If the adelgid doesn't get them, then the proponents of biomass will. What's a poor hemlock to do? Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, January 9, 2010 11:20:54 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [ENTS] re: Weather, adelgids and what is being lost in the forest Larry: I recently visited Massachusetts and spent many hours walking around my families' farm in Franklin County. The last time I spent much time walking around my native territory prior to this trip, the HWA had not yet arrived. The first thing I noticed was a nearly complete absence of healthy understory hemlock and in some places a total absence of live hemlock smaller than large pole size. In one area I visited there are no longer any live understory hemlock trees larger than seedling size although there were still a lot of live pole sized trees present. In that patch of woods I remember walking around with the elderly owner about 30 years ago while we conducted a post harvest assessment of a logging job. As we passed through one portion of the harvest area the owner commented on a "young" hemlock tree that the logging had damaged. I interjected that small size was not necessarily an accurate reflection of age and I proceeded to cut down the 3/4" diameter tree with my Swiss Army Knife as a demonstration. I was expecting the sapling to be 30 or 40 years old and was blown away when I had to use a hand lens to count the rings and came up with about 146 years. I wrote that information on the side of a three inch long piece of the stem at the time I did it and have kept it on my desk for years. All of that hemlocks' understory brethren in that patch of forest are no longer alive and their 100+ years of existence is no longer evident as more than rotting detritus on the forest floor.. With the extreme age it is possible for hemlock to achieve as an understory tree I think that the true impact of the loss of hemlock as a component of the understory, especially as a stabilizing influence, is going to ripple through the entire forest and change it in ways not yet imagined. Russ e What struck me was the loss of all the ancient trees in the understory In a message dated 1/8/2010 1:08:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: ENTS, Is it just me or is it really the case the older/larger the tree, the quicker those nasty wooly adelgids kill it? We still have some scraggly young hemlock in the woods behind our house (heavily infested but still somehow hanging on for now although they are looking weaker) but anything of decent look or age has been dead for a couple years for the most part and one area which may have had some old-growth ones was already 100% dead many years back. And I was horrified to see how fast those mega-giants in the smokies went, many even after treatment Sad smile emoticonSad smile emoticonSad smile emoticon. I was really happy when I thought at least a few of those ultra-grove had been saved.... SOme of it is just where a bird carrying them happens to land first too of course as some groves here were certainly hit much earlier than others, but once they are hit, I could swear the old giants actually fare much worse (I would've guessed the opposite). -Larry From: [email protected] Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 11:03 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ENTS] Re: Weather Lee, No, I'll gladly endure cold to see woolly adelgid killed. I'm just in a complaining mood this morning. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lee Frelich" < [email protected] > To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, January 8, 2010 9:56:29 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [ENTS] Re: Weather Bob: Cold weather does kill hemlock woolly adelgid. So, I take it that you have decided its OK for the remaining old-growth hemlock to die so you don't have to experience a few cold days. Regarding ticks--you should see the new data we have from northern MN, where we left several Hobos in the soil all winter. They measured temperature every hour for the entire year. In the summer and fall, soil temperature at a depth of 2 inches went up and down with air temperature (although the response lagged air temperature by a day and was damped--i.e. the rises and falls were of smaller magnitude than air temperature. As soon as the snow arrived, soil temperature went flat at about 30 degrees F. Air temperature during winter fluctuated from -45 to +45, and the soil temperature stayed absolutely constant. Soil temperatures reached their minimums in late fall and early spring when there was no snow, but there were a few days of colder than average air temperatures. So, thats why ticks survive in the boreal forests of northern MN. To kill ticks, an arctic cold spell without any snow on the ground is needed, so that soil temperatures get very cold. Of course that would kill the trees too, because roots are not adapted to survive the range of temperatures as the tops of trees. Lee [email protected] wrote: > Will, > > Do you mind if ENTS moves in with you. I'm sick of winter already. It > is snowing lightly outside now and the maximum temperature here at the > house will likely not rise to over 25 today. Saturday night the > temperature here at the house will likely be around 0. > > One advantage to cold weather I always thought was thinning out the > populations of pests like ticks. But, if they're able to live through > extremely low temperatures, what the heck good is really cold weather? > > Bob > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Will Fell" <[email protected]> > To: "ENTSTrees" <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, January 8, 2010 8:57:46 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Weather > > Yes it is all relative. It was 70 degrees here New Years eve and fell > like a rock Jan 1. Jan 12nd was the first below freezing morning this > winter and all week we woke up to temps in the 20's and highs only > about 50. This morning is the first day since Jan 1st we haven't > awoken to temps below 32. It was only 35 this morning, but the "warm > spell" won't last as it is to head to the low 20's tonight. Normally > we will get a day or two of cold weather then it will blow out to sea. > The cold has been the lead story in all the papers the past few days > and everyone is fussing about it. I imagine folks in New England would > be running around in shorts in this weather, but it has us in the deep > south shivering. > > But I really wonder about the ticks. Here in South GA ticks are not a > problem like up north. You will get an occaisional tick, but not like > some places further north where you can't go in the woods without > spraying down. And we do not have lyme disease dispite having a heavy > deer population. So I really wonder if ticks and Lyme disease are > responsive to cold weather. > > WF > > On Jan 8, 7:34 am, Beth <[email protected]> wrote: > > Ents, > > Wednesday night/Thursday day we here in St. Louis got between 3-6 > > inches of snow. While this is not much the problem was the cold front > > that came with it. High temps for yesterday were in the teens and > > today and tomorrow the highs are to be in the single temps. Of course > > the wind chills have been -10 and below. This is heading towards the > > Northeast today. I hope that everyone there dresses warmly and in > > layers if they have to get outside. > > > > I hope that this bitter cold (yes I know Lee, this isn't cold for you) > > kills off some of the ticks around here. I am tired of pulling them > > off of me along with getting Lyme. > > > > Beth
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