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7th Annual New England Lawn Thread


CoastalWx

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Just got back from spending the day down in Newport. The gypsy moths really hit hard in RI and eastern CT. I didn't know it was that bad, at home my oaks look fine but I saw so many bare trees east of here. Is there any long term effects on the trees losing most of their foliage for the season?

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Just got back from spending the day down in Newport. The gypsy moths really hit hard in RI and eastern CT. I didn't know it was that bad, at home my oaks look fine but I saw so many bare trees east of here. Is there any long term effects on the trees losing most of their foliage for the season?

we will get a second leaf out, evergreens will suffer most, its a disaster to deal with though. 

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we will get a second leaf out, evergreens will suffer most, its a disaster to deal with though. 

 

True - about 4-6 weeks to 2nd full set, after 1st year of defoliation.  If it happens again next spring, weak trees may die, and if 3rd/4th years (like the early 70s and early 80s outbreaks), lots of trees die.  In the 1980s, one full defoliation was nearly 100% fatal to hemlocks, while most pines were able to hang on.  I've no idea what that pest would do in NNE's spruce-fir woods, as it's never had big populations there.  Spruce budworm is probably on the way, however - killed about 25 million cords in Maine during the 1970s-80s outbreak, probably 10 times that in PQ, where it's causing some mortality now.

 

Some browntail moth defoliation in north Augusta; they like oaks, too.  They're a much bigger issue down toward Brunswick and Casco Bay, especially since the caterpillars' hairs can be highly allergenic to many people, especially kids.

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True - about 4-6 weeks to 2nd full set, after 1st year of defoliation.  If it happens again next spring, weak trees may die, and if 3rd/4th years (like the early 70s and early 80s outbreaks), lots of trees die.  In the 1980s, one full defoliation was nearly 100% fatal to hemlocks, while most pines were able to hang on.  I've no idea what that pest would do in NNE's spruce-fir woods, as it's never had big populations there.  Spruce budworm is probably on the way, however - killed about 25 million cords in Maine during the 1970s-80s outbreak, probably 10 times that in PQ, where it's causing some mortality now.

 

Some browntail moth defoliation in north Augusta; they like oaks, too.  They're a much bigger issue down toward Brunswick and Casco Bay, especially since the caterpillars' hairs can be highly allergenic to many people, especially kids.

my poor hemlock is naked

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my poor hemlock is naked

Put up some bird feeders in the spring to attract black capped chickadees.  They devour them at all stages.

 

I always have a few egg clusters hatch on my maples and crabapples, but the chickadees eat pretty much 100% of them long before any damage is done.

 

Looks like you need about 700 chickadees.

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Put up some bird feeders in the spring to attract black capped chickadees.  They devour them at all stages.

 

I always have a few egg clusters hatch on my maples and crabapples, but the chickadees eat pretty much 100% of them long before any damage is done.

 

Looks like you need about 700 chickadees.

Yea we have a bunch of black caps around the feeders, they were overwhelmed. The bird activity is nuts this year but a couple million gypsy cats versus dozens of birds......

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Yea we have a bunch of black caps around the feeders, they were overwhelmed. The bird activity is nuts this year but a couple million gypsy cats versus dozens of birds......

 

Reminds me of 35 years ago in N. Maine - millions of evening grosbeaks, but trillions of spruce budworm larvae.  Birds ate well but I doubt they even put a dent in the outbreak.

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Anyone in CT see any signs of Emerald Ash Borer? I bought my great uncles house a few years and he planted 2 awesome ash trees when he bought the house in 1958. We love the trees. This year I noticed a ton of lower branches that were dead. I don't see any signs of the D shaped holes they make and research says the upper canopy dies off first but EAB is in the area.

 

Just to be safe I bought a bottle of Dominion 2L with Imidacloprid (merit) on Amazon and treated them with a soil drench. It look like it will cost about $6 a tree and it lasts 1 year.

 

rsz_20160609_174205.jpg

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Delayed but not denied. Seeing gypsy moth damage now in the area. Not widespread but the trees that are impacted are being stripped. Nothing in my yard yet. Dropped rnd 2 of my fertilizer finally yesterday. Going to seriously have to think about a local lawn care company. Just no time anymore to spend the time necessary to keep up with it all.

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Anyone in CT see any signs of Emerald Ash Borer? I bought my great uncles house a few years and he planted 2 awesome ash trees when he bought the house in 1958. We love the trees. This year I noticed a ton of lower branches that were dead. I don't see any signs of the D shaped holes they make and research says the upper canopy dies off first but EAB is in the area.

 

Just to be safe I bought a bottle of Dominion 2L with Imidacloprid (merit) on Amazon and treated them with a soil drench. It look like it will cost about $6 a tree and it lasts 1 year.

 

rsz_20160609_174205.jpg

 

EAB is becoming a big issue here, unfortunately. Lots of dead/dying ash trees in the Pittsfield, MA area and some of the nearby towns.

 

That tree looks like it's in the early stages of an EAB infestation and it becomes very difficult if not impossible to save a tree once it starts showing signs of damage. EAB will kill a healthy tree in 2-3 years. We have a huge population of ash trees around here, and our forests will be completely different if it is not stopped soon. Here's a few photos of an EAB infested tree I took last summer in Pittsfield.

 

post-48-0-38606000-1465787324_thumb.jpg

 

post-48-0-21035800-1465787418_thumb.jpg

 

post-48-0-05217400-1465787471_thumb.jpg

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Do what my parents did and get a well just for watering the lawn its expensive but worth it in the long run

Yeah, this is exactly what I was considering. I'd put the well a few feet from the lawn irrigation distribution box to keep the trenching for piping and power to a minimum.

Who did they hire to install the well?

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Traveled Maine-SNJ on 6/15, returned 6/20. Southernmost noticeable defoliation (of more than 2-3 trees at a location) was in W. CT, some apparently gypsy, some ash-specific so likely EAB. Larger patches 1-3 acres or so, began appearing a bit north of the Tolland exit from I-84, with larger patches a few miles either side of the CT-Mass line, and no ash-specific defoliation. A northerly view of several thousand acres from an I-84 high point near mile 84 and a bit south of the rest area revealed no widespread damage, in fact almost none visible at the landscape scale. Then we saw considerable multi-acre areas along I-290 and especially I-495, the latter perhaps biased as the stop-and-go traffic gave us a longer look - took 2+ hours to go the 50 miles from I-290 to Haverhill, for no apparent reason - no accidents nor lane closures and the construction is done at night. Defoliation was noticeably increased during the 5 days between drives. Saw only small patches in Maine, and that might be browntail moth rather than gypsy.

Things have dried out since the 2.5" of June 5-8, with only 0.03" since then (and only 0.14" in the 20 days prior to 6/5.)

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