A Little about Trees

This tree is the invasive species that I've been fighting.  It's known as Tree of Heaven or Ailanthus.  It looks something like a sumac tree except it doesn't get the red seed/fruit clusters.  The Tree of Heaven (TOH) leaves and bark stink like a skunk if you scratch or break them.  We had some on the property that were over 12" diameter at the base.  The TOH grows extremely fast and out competes most native trees in disturbed soil.   They are also really hard to kill.  If you just saw them down, you will get about 50 new sprouts from the trunk and roots.  Our first attempt to kill them was to saw them down and then apply concentrated Roundup on the fresh cut.  About 1/2 of the trees died and another 1/2 sprouted from the roots.  So we have been using a product called Garlon.  I mix it with diesel oil and spray the bark about 1 foot high all the way around at ground level.  That stuff works.

About 7 years ago we planted over 3000 pine seedlings.  I'm not sure how many have survived but the deer really have hammered them.  This one was rubbed by a buck but it survived.  The bucks rub small trees with their antlers - first to scrape off the velvet and later just to mark territory and show dominance.  Most of the pines that have survived have this bare area near the bottom where they have been rubbed.  Many have died because the bark was removed for 360 degrees.  We have planted some replacements for the lost trees and I have been trying various species.  The deer seem to really favor the white pine. So I've also planted some pitlolly, Austrian and Virginia pines. 

Here's a few more examples of survivors.  Often the survivors are double trunk trees.  They wouldn't necessarily be desireable as nursery stock but I think they survive because the bucks don't skin the bark off all 360 degrees of the trunk.

Here's a survivor beside one that didn't make it.

This is an example of a double trunk where, although the buck rubbed all the way around, the bark wasn't removed in between the two trunks and therefore they survived.

Here is a larger pine tree that a buck has gone to work on.  Typically it takes a pretty big buck with a pretty big rack to work on a tree this large.

In the winter, the food disappears and the deer get more and more desperate.  This is an example of a tree where they ate the bark from ground level to the top of their reach all the way around.  They only do this with certain species of trees.  I'm not sure what type but I was told that it was a kind of elm.

This is another example of winter starvation foraging.

More winter forage damage.  This is a white pine where the deer have eaten the buds and most of the needles.  When the deer population is high, the winter is long and cold, the last food source that they seem to attack before spring green-up is the pine buds and, when desperate, the needles.  When they eat the buds, basically a growing season is lost.  The tree will spend the next growing season re-growing the buds.  If the buds survive, the tree will grow 6" to 12" from that bud during the growing season.

This one made it about 7 years but last winter did it in.  They rubbed it and ate it.  It's amazing that some of them survive when you see the extent of the damage in the spring.

This is a picture of one of the apple trees just last week.  The  fruit trees that were part of the old farm have been a joy.  I think this tree is red delicious but they taste better than store apples.  I don't do alot of spraying so they have blemishes but they really taste good.

I'm pretty sure that these are yellow delicious.  They are even better than the red apples.  This year one of these trees have fruit and the one right beside it doesn't.  I have no idea why.  We have had years where none of the trees prodced fruit but it was pretty obvious why - there was a sleet/ice storm shortly after the trees bloomed.

The pears always look pretty good but they don't tatse great right off the tree.  My Mom found a recipe for poached pears and they taste great that way.  We're guessing that these pears were a variety for canning.

We have had some wonderful years with these sour cherry trees.  They are my Dad's favorite for pie.  Unfortunately, both trees look like they're dying.  I'm not sure what's going on with them.  When we do get fruit, it is a race to pick the cherries before the birds strip the trees.  I've tried nets with limited success.  One year I really had a bumper crop and I was quite proud of myself.  I later learned from a neighbor lady that the reason I was so successful that year was because it was a cicada year.  Once every 17 years there's a major hatching of cicadas and when that happens the birds gorge on them and leave the cherries alone.

This is a grape arbor.  They're probably concord grapes.  They're dark purple and have seeds.  I haven't done much with them since they're not my favorite.

These are new fruit trees that I have planted.  I planted apples (MacIntosh and Lodi), sweet and sour cherries and peaches.  The apples have been in about 4 years and are producing about 6 apples each.  I've had some trees die.  I have them all caged to try to protect them from the deer.  I need to either get even bigger cages or find a new strategy.