OT: Tree Update with Pics.

Oops, How did little Maddie Girl get in there? =P

Here is what dad did to the maple cause he was paranoid they would fall and hit the power lines. I plan to try to get some twiglings (or whatever you want to call them) from the remaining branches) to grow roots and start growing. Also plan to harvest some seeds this fall so we have more options. Who knows we might end up with 20 more trees, haha. It doesnt hurt to try.

As of now my main concern is the trees that are established.

Many years ago, some lichens were sent up in a space flight and positioned outside of the ship. They survived a two week test.

Love my dogs more then most people. Maddie is rather ditzy like a blonde, dad calls her blondie in her moments. She is very sweet, energetic and loving girl. Maxwell is a smart stubborn brute, hehe. He has his loving moments too like when we go to retire he tries to give me kisses and I usually end up getting stern with him.

Maddie has a weird thing she does. She snorts like a pig ALOT, especially when shes jealous of max for attention. It's rather funny. Not sure what I'll do when they pass on. We had their grandparents. They are dad and daughter and could breed, but I find it ethically wrong, altho if it happens, it does, not unheard of in the breeding "industry".

Many people say we are weird for naming them after their ancesters. They looked nearly identical to them as well. It was dad's idea, and to me, it keeps their memory alive in some way. Same nick names, altho new ones have evolved too.

Here's a few more pics of the rascals...

Unfortunately while posting these pics, I came acrossed the ones of "Old Maddie" (as we call them), who passed away, a few days before we euthanized her. Dad, who loves them almost as much as he loves mom and possibly more then us kids, prolonged her demise. She suffered alot more then she should have. Old Max went rather quick, altho I strayed with him for 2 weeks constantly helping him after each seizure, as he eventually gave into more frequent seizures. Old Maddie hung in for months getting more and more sick, skinny, with bleeding breast tumors. Dad just couldnt bear to let her go. I even thought of having her euthanized while he was at work and telling him she died. I cant fault dad too much tho, when they both died, its the ONLY time I've seen dad cry. He was distraught for weeks about it. Often in the am when he let them out to go potty, he would call for both of them and then remember she was gone. They are both now on the hutch. Dad sprung for the "private cremations." Not sure how private they are, but just another example of how much he cared for them in life and death. He's cheap, so it means something to spend more money. He footed the 700$ bill 2 years before maddies death when her uterus became infected. The vet showed me it after the operation, was pretty unsightly and was large enough to have a few puppies in it, but was just infection and puss.

Dogs can be wonderful companions, but times like those I'd rather forgot. I took he pics of maddy to remind me that I will NOT let this happen to Max and MAddie.

Anyone who doesnt believe euthanising animals who are sick and dying, hasnt seen these pictures of my dog. Animals prolonged death to me are more upsetting them humans. Animals dont know whats going on, only that they are hurting bad and nothing is helping them. I felt so helpless for Maddie. There was nothing I could do. When people are dying, they usually know what is going on. Altho, sometimes I'd rather be an animal just for the lack of fear of what happens after death, whatever that is...

Google on Lichen for more info.

I think your father did the right thing. Now all you have to do is rip the rest of it out with your tractor. Make a sub-soiler to fit your fast hitch. Use it to cut the roots before tugging on the multi-stemmed "tree".

Go get yourself a decent sugar maple sapling at a nursery or hedgerow. The underside of the leaf will have a flat finish. I consider most other maples to be weeds.

Those are lichens like I said. They dont hurt your tree in any way. They are a fungus and change color from what they digest. If I remember correctly its moss they use? Read up on it its pretty interesting.

Your branches will NOT root. Sorry but not worth trying. Some trees you can do that with like Crape Myrtle and Willows but not maples. I shouldnt say that because I have rooted some other tree limbs and they always stay as limbs. Still, it wont do what you want.

If you insist that a new tree come from the old one I can think of only two options.

One, is letting it resprout and then getting seed. It should leaf out again if you dont cut it any further.

Two, Maples (acer) can be budded. You can read up on it but basicly you will be taking a bud from this tree and making a T slip in another tree and waiting for it to "take" and then cutting the old tree off. The bud will continue to grow into a tree. You could also bud each limb seperatly and remove the old limb but basicly it would still be the old tree. The other way all of the old tree that would be left is the root and a few inches of the old trunk.

Roses, fruit trees, pecan trees, camellias, a few others are done this way. It is common for the Japanese maples to be budded or grafted to get the variety you want.

If you want to email me I can go into this a little more for you. I have been a nurseryman all my life. The Super A I restored was what my father started the business with in 1949. My father was a master at budding roses, thats another story tho.

As for the fungus, that is a 100% natural common treebark fungus and will not affect the tree. If you just have to kill it, if it bothers you that much, just dab some roundup on a rag and gently brush it over the fungus just enough to wet it but not the trunk of the tree. Do this once or twice a week and it'll die right off.

Don't worry so much..... .

He could have if had of got to it right after its was done but after a few hours of laying out in the air the chances of a graft taking really go down.

On this kind of situation he would have gotten a limb that was about the size of a pencil and sharpened one end down to a wedge. Then cut into the stump and kind of pushed the graft in. You can do two or three on a big stump hopeing one takes. But you will always be left with two differant sizes where they meet. This is called a "cleft graft".

• grafting

Dad will not be a fan of using roundup, even in small quanitites, because of the proximity to the well. He said he's going to try to use some sort of mixture of vegetable oil and murphys oil soap?

As for it being normal, It kinda does look like stuff I've seen before onm trees. Being "normal" to me doesnt mean its harmless. I'd like more confirmation of this. Not that I dont trust you patrick, but if it is something harmful and not apparent from the pics, it could mean the death of the trees. Anyone have a more specific name for it so I can get dad some info on it to ease his mind.

I remember your earlier post about this and how these trees mean something to you and you want to preserve them and I know the feeling. :) I hope that you can save a little bit of it and preserve some part of it! :)

Its just an empty lot now, there was no damn reason to cut down such a nice looking tree. corporation do stupid stuff. The oak looked to be in good health, no where near any lines. Dad transplanted the maple when the place was bought out. today is the day for some trials on getting something going from it, wish me luck!!

Same story here bub. My region in LA is fairly full of live oaks, water oaks, bald cypress, and cedar.

Not too long ago we got a Super Wal-Mart. Well the acreage that they built on was a combination of pasture and cane feild with scattered live oaks. Most of the trees were well over 100 year old, their trunks around 8 feet in diameter with long branches dipping into the ground and covered with spanish moss.

Every one of them were chopped down and uprooted to make room for the store and its huge parking lot. They exchanged all of that history and beauty for a buck and some concrete. :(

Let's not even get into the debate on SprawlMart, haha