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Home > Archive > Pest Control > July 2005 > Stressed live oaks
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Stressed live oaks
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| Lil' Dave 2005-06-16, 2:33 pm |
| After giving symptoms to state cooperative extension, an agent email replied
and recommended I cut down the trees.
Background: 16 live oaks were left after thinning junipers amongst this
grove of trees. There are a few junipers left, but their bottom limbs to 8'
have been removed. The live oaks have severe, some 90 degree bends at the
trunk. These bends were attempts by the trees to find direct sunlight when
the junipers were so thick.
Symptoms: A couple of major holes and many small penetrations on the live
oaks, I attributed to what I thought were carpenter ants. Ants were visible
on the trees. Almost every leaf had been chewed on, but none were entirely
eaten. Severe lichen on many limbs. Many limbs were dry and brittle, not
all were in vicinity of severe lichen.
Treatment: Local exterminator determined the ants were "acrobat" ants, and
has similar home creation and eating habits as the carpenter ants. He air
injected dust with a hand applicator on almost all the trees with visible
ant dropping around such penetrations. After treating all the trees, he
commented that he had never seen anything like it (severity). Followed up
with bait all around the trees and the adjacent house.
After examining the trees, he determined the half-eaten leaves were due to a
small golden yellow moth that hatched about a month ago from the caterpillar
stage. The transition stage is in a cocoon that hangs from a string as
small as a spider web thread. These were present throughout the trees.
There was nothing to bother with at this point as the moths are not a
problem.
Lichen, I treated with a fungicide spray every week now for 3 weeks. The
lichen is starting to break down and thin.
All non-leaf producing limbs that were brittle were pruned. Lot of it. The
remnants were hauled to an open area and burned. Burning heavy lichen
infested limbs was recommended by a website I found.
Pounded in tree food spkes at critical points around the area.
Live oaks seem to be responding with new, and uneaten leaves. The ants seem
to have dissipated. The decreased lichen coverage seems to allow the trees
to respire adequately. Expecting full recovery.
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| In article <Oczre.3765$eM6.2891@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net>,
spamyourself@virus.net says...
 Treatment: Local exterminator determined the ants were "acrobat" ants, and
has similar home creation and eating habits as the carpenter ants. He air
injected dust with a hand applicator on almost all the trees with visible
ant dropping around such penetrations. After treating all the trees, he
commented that he had never seen anything like it (severity). Followed up
with bait all around the trees and the adjacent house.
The ants have nothing to do with the downfall of your trees...they are
actually extending the life of the tree by cleaning out diseased wood
and feeding on insects that live on the tree. Being acrobat ants they
are more inclined to just exist with the insects. If the trees are in
distress there will be various tree aphids that secrete honeydew that
the acrobat ants feed on. But the ants (especially acrobat ants) are not
nesting in sound wood, just what is already dead and rotted.
--
Lar
to email....get rid of the BUGS
| |
| Lil' Dave 2005-06-17, 11:34 pm |
| "Lar" <larlfu@comcastBUGS.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.1d18951c885b7a4a989747@netnews.comcast.net...
quote:
> In article <Oczre.3765$eM6.2891@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net>,
> spamyourself@virus.net says...
> Treatment: Local exterminator determined the ants were "acrobat" ants,
and
quote:
> has similar home creation and eating habits as the carpenter ants. He
air
quote:
> injected dust with a hand applicator on almost all the trees with
visible
quote:
> ant dropping around such penetrations. After treating all the trees,
he
quote:
> commented that he had never seen anything like it (severity).
Followed up
quote:
> with bait all around the trees and the adjacent house.
>
>
> The ants have nothing to do with the downfall of your trees...they are
> actually extending the life of the tree by cleaning out diseased wood
> and feeding on insects that live on the tree. Being acrobat ants they
> are more inclined to just exist with the insects. If the trees are in
> distress there will be various tree aphids that secrete honeydew that
> the acrobat ants feed on. But the ants (especially acrobat ants) are not
> nesting in sound wood, just what is already dead and rotted.
> --
> Lar
>
> to email....get rid of the BUGS
Did find out one thing, researching "acrobat ants" apparent raising their
abdomen when in distress. These are not acrobat ants. Their appearance
does not change when I found and scattered these ants amongst the trees.
One website says to get rid of the aphids, and that will spell the eventual
doom for the ants. If there are aphids, I certainly could not find any.
Any rate, I used a general insect control spray by Ortho on the trees in
case there is such a problem. I raked and gathered the dead leaves and dead
branches to eliminate another habitation area for the ants prior to
spraying.
Control of whatever is stressing the trees is pressing as the trees are
just west of the house. The house is new, and of concrete pier and wooden
beam variety foundation. The subfloor is not treated lumber, the big front
porch is treated lumber. The dog loves it under the house in mid-afternoon
to evening as its very cool under there. The trees serve to shade the house
from the late afternoon and evening sun. So the more leaves on the trees,
the better the shading of the house.
Am still looking for bugs, other than ants. And, as I said previously, the
trees are responding to previous care I've provided.
Live in a rural area. 5-10 acre plats and a major acreage ranch. Have
noted while walking the dog, there are few live oaks down the street not on
my property that have similar signs of distress. There are much more
healthy live oaks than distressed ones, including on my property. So,
whatever the problem is, its localized to a few trees.
| |
|
| In article <Qhyse.6613$VK4.4274@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net>,
spamyourself@virus.net says...
One website says to get rid of the aphids, and that will spell the eventual
doom for the ants. If there are aphids, I certainly could not find any.
Any rate, I used a general insect control spray by Ortho on the trees in
case there is such a problem. I raked and gathered the dead leaves and dead
branches to eliminate another habitation area for the ants prior to
spraying.
The ants can be foraging well over a 100 yards from the nest that might
be in the tree. A second clue that aphids are a problem would be lady
bugs. The different stages would be all over the property. Stress could
be from a late freeze after the trees had started putting out new
growth, to root damage that may not immediately show up when the home
was built.
--
Lar
to email....get rid of the BUGS
| |
| Lil' Dave 2005-07-01, 12:26 pm |
|
"Lar" <larlfu@comcastBUGS.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.1d1d46d2aee89d7d98974f@netnews.comcast.net...
quote:
> In article <Qhyse.6613$VK4.4274@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net>,
> spamyourself@virus.net says...
>
>
> One website says to get rid of the aphids, and that will spell the
eventual
quote:
> doom for the ants. If there are aphids, I certainly could not find
any.
quote:
> Any rate, I used a general insect control spray by Ortho on the trees
in
quote:
> case there is such a problem. I raked and gathered the dead leaves
and dead
quote:
> branches to eliminate another habitation area for the ants prior to
> spraying.
>
> The ants can be foraging well over a 100 yards from the nest that might
> be in the tree. A second clue that aphids are a problem would be lady
> bugs. The different stages would be all over the property. Stress could
> be from a late freeze after the trees had started putting out new
> growth, to root damage that may not immediately show up when the home
> was built.
>
>
> --
> Lar
>
> to email....get rid of the BUGS
Word is from county agricultural agent that last two summers were
unseasonably heavy rains and extended cloud cover making it cooler. The
extended humidity and easily available water sources fostered some tree
growth, but also fostered bigger and expanded bug populations. This summer
is looking like the typical semi-arid summer known in S. Texas. A visible
improvement of bug population decline is expected by next year if the
weather holds to normal.. Trees in area are expected to heal themselves.
It will all take some time to occur.
Saw the ugliest hopper in the world yesterday out on the ground amidst the
grove of trees I mentioned. Medium dark luminiscent green, longer and
larger than a cicada. Scary-looking. Kinda crawled around, didn't fly
despite its obvious wings.
About a month ago, saw some lady bugs out by some pecan saplings I planted
some distance from the oak grove. None around or amidst the oaks. No lady
bugs seen at all now.
Bees. Appear like your typical honey bee, maybe just a tad smaller. From
dawn to about 9 a.m., there's bees out and about amongst the non-flowering
short grasses. They go from one seed pod to the next. They show no
interest in the Texas wild flowers still blooming out here. My dog and I
walk amongst these bees, no sign of defensive posture. Bees just ignore us.
Ever heard of bees that don't have interest in flowers?
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