Mistletoe sucks!

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The OSU extension service current theory on leafy mistletoe is it isn't a problem here. We just covered that in master gardener training. The extension agent's theory is that if the mistletoe killed the tree it would be killing itself, since it can't produce its own food. So presumably the mistletoe and oaks have reached some kind of balance. I dunno, doesn't stop fruit flies in a jar, will keep my eyes open.
 
Originally posted by ORclimber
The OSU extension service current theory on leafy mistletoe is that if the mistletoe killed the tree it would be killing itself, since it can't produce its own food.
Wrong on two counts. First, the mistletoe DOES produce sugars, but relies on the tree for water and minerals. Second and most important is the logical fallacy of teleology, which is assuming that nonthinking organisms have the capacity to think long-term.:rolleyes:

Bark beetles eat pines until pines are dead and so are the beetles, right? But as with mistletoe, future generations carry on the species.

The MG training I got was overall good, but there were also some dangerously stupid concepts, like teleology. The trouble with MG training is that it mostly emanates from :Monkey: inside the landgrant University and is underinformed by experience in the field.
 
---Opinions on droping the stuff through the canopy?? Is this spreading the mistletoe???

Guy-- Does spraying/painting always get it, without having to take the branch off? I guess you must catch it early, most of the time when I'm removing mistletoe the end of the branch beyond the mistletoe is already dead and I just remove the branch at the appropriate spot.

Greg
 
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Originally posted by Greg
---Opinions on droping the stuff through the canopy?? Is this spreading the mistletoe???
yes if it's full of berries it may be.

Does spraying/painting always get it
No like I said it jsu tslows it down sometimes, and you'll have to get it again next time.
the end of the branch beyond the mistletoe is already dead and I just remove the branch at the appropriate spot.
And what is that spot--the first good lateral behind the mistletoe? Some say to go 2' behind but that's pretty extreme.
 
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Can't say as I've seen that much mistletoe here in Indiana. I'm sure it exists here, but I don't think it's that prolific...


Dan
 
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When I remove ca... mistletoe, I have to decide if the whole branch needs to go, or just the mt. Whenever possible on a heavily infected branch, I will remove the whole branch. I pay particular attention to scraping off the tiny shoots that are embedded in the bark of the main trunk and main leads.
 
Guy,

Thanks for setting me straight.

MB,

Thanks for starting the thread.


DEATH TO MISTLETOE!:blob2:

I'll be taking Lyons and Sinclair to class next week.
 
This one's for carl!

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Originally posted by ORclimber
I'll be taking Lyons and Sinclair to class next week.
That's just what they need at MG school, a voice from the field. Keep em real!:blob2:
The tree jps showed sure looks like a candidate for pole pruner usage.
mb yeah when a branch is choked with it, it's sure hard to keep.
 
Originally posted by John Paul Sanborn
So would anyone spray that with NAA or Florel?
/florel is rated for use but how do you get it up there?
Clip and scrape and paint, that'll get it.
 
i hate Mistletoe because of the local devastation i have seen; it spreads for a couple of blocks it seems; spread by gravity, wind, birds, squirrels etc. the parasite sits into the bark, sticking with 'krazy glue' strength and spreads 'roots' under the bark for 1-2'. In shaving any roots not cut, can resprout, so cutting 1-2' feet off a limb with the mistletoe is advised to prevent reformation. Locally it seems to favour our Water Oaks. The US Forestry Service once reported that more lumber trees where lost to mistletoe than any other source, natural or artificial. It is a worldwide spread parasite, coming in a dwarf species for conifers.

i believe the Florel only serves to abort the female blossums, if sprayed in winter, covering the plant; so it is a control strategy, not cure. i think it takes about 2 seasons after shaving or spraying for the plant to recoup it's reproductive capability after being sprayed or shaved.

The parasite sucks up water and nutrients meant for the branch past it. It takes the water etc. first to suit itself, so this is very devastating in a drought. Branches can become dilapidated and fall off, leaving in the tree a devastated branch hanging down mostly, looking mottled/'bubbly' in it's wood with a charachteristic knob on the end; looking rather rude.....

Even though there are mistletoe wines, folk cures; some breeds especially the berries are toxic/fatal to especially small children and pets; so Christmas mistletoe will have plastic berries. Making that a selling point and reponsibility. Easily seen this time of year; making it easier to catch before blooming/spreading berries in spring here shortly.

Light starvation is the only cure i'd heard of (except amputation); one test showed it took 3 years wrapped in burlap and black plastic to affect the starvation; that is one tough competitor! You're supposed to make sure that the plastic etc., doesn't force the formation of a 'wet spot' on the wood, subject to rot and infestation. That'd be a good trick in this humid climate over the course of 3 years IMLHO! That paint trick kinda sounds slick thar Guy!
 
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Originally posted by TheTreeSpyder
Light starvation is the only cure i'd heard of (except amputation); That paint trick kinda sounds slick thar Guy!
It's a great trick and a good use of pruning paint. I found the trick in the Journal of Arboriculture. Check it out. Ya gotta weed through a bunch of crap to find useful info on tree care in that pub (as in internet fora, etc.), but it's worth the work.

Any green haustoria in the stem needs to be scraped and painted too, not just the stem. Sinclair pg. 424 says just breaking off the stalks repeatedly may starve it out if done repeatedly. His book doesn't include the paint trick, which came in after publication. But it makes sense since if it doesn't get light it starves.
 
Re: Re: Mistletoe sucks!

Originally posted by Guy Meilleur
I trim off all the haustoria I can and then spray it to smother. Paint that stuff!

What type of paint do you use, creasote based?

Has there been any research on painting the hausteria with glyphosate? Uing Garlon do they just use a hand sprayer while moving through the canopy? Big tree, small amounts of herbicide....
 
"Treatment of the mistletoe with certain herbicides while the host is dormant has also proven effective" is all Sinclair says. Me I'd rather go the nontoxic black paint way (creosote based or other; the point is to block the light). I'd rather tell a client that retreatment may be required than tell them I accidentally poisoned their tree.
 
Indian Summer

i think the paint is pretty slick for cutting off light; ushering demise of the plant (after knocking some off etc.)

i can also attest to the herbicide while dormant attack that Guy speaks of. At least it worked on one tree i tried at my buddy's /customer's request. i didn't want to say so, cuz like Guy i can't give it a blanket recomendation off of 1 trial, and all the variables, chemical use in unortho-dox manner etc.. But we might have a warmer dormant season than most, and still it did seem to work. We even used "Round-Up"; and it seems to have worked without a lot of negative effect form 5+ years ago. Though not lush, most of the tree is 'clean'; back from a point of about useless devastation by a rampant run of mistletoe in the area.

Those that cared for these lands before 'settled', didn't seem to have the same idea of ownership as our peoples. i walk from any job that is like "Cut down the property line, i don't want their trees over my line", or "their leaves fall here and i have to rake my own as it is" ideas of ownership of the Giants.

It took me a while to go over and look the tree over Guy, after we talked, everytime i go by there, i keep expecting to see my buddy come out bee-bopping around the corner of the house or something; and that tree outlived him; but still the familiarity and memories play that trick on me, as some sort of pavlovian response.

So, anyway; it outlasted him as many trees we see and touch will 'do' to us and their temporary, present keepers.


Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr something like that,
:alien:
 

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