Topic: Forest Health

Showing 91 – 100 of 105 resources

Sugarmaker’s Guide to Pear Thrips Monitoring

Pear thrips surfaced as a new pest of sugar maple, Acer saccharum Marsh., in 1979. Damage from this insect occurs intermittently, and threatens the long-term health of maple trees throughout the northeastern United States and parts of Canada. A method for sampling forest soil to determine pear thrips populations is described that is suitable for sugarmakers. This method requires a minimum of equipment and time, and provides sugarmakers with a reliable estimate of the number of thrips in their sugar_bushes. By sampling and assessing damage annually, sugarmakers will gain an understanding of the relationship between thrips population levels and damage in their stands. Based on this information, potential damage in the spring can be estimated. Sample results are obtained before tapping so sugarmakers can adjust their management practices, such as the number of taps per tree, to minimize stress on trees when damage is likely.

Date:
October 1, 1995

Field Guide for Monitoring Sugar Maple Bud Development

The timing and duration of budbreak of forest trees may be affected by biotic and abiotic factors. This manual provides a visual method for monitoring bud development of mature trees of sugar maple, Acer saccharum Marsh., from the ground. A spotting scope with a 15-45x zoom lens was used for bud rating. The user is supplied with close-up photographs and a brief description of each bud stage. Sample data sheets are also provided. This protocol is currently used in the Vermont Forest Health Monitoring Program.

Date:
October 1, 1994

Sapstreak Disease of Sugar Maple: Development Over Time and Space

Sapstreak disease is a potentially serious problem of sugarbushes and forest stands. It is caused by the fungus Ceratocystis virescens, which invades sapwood of roots and bases of stems through wounds created during logging, saphauling, or other activities. This report describes the results of observations and experiments to learn more about the patterns of disease development and the factors that affect them, within individual trees and within representative forests and sugarbushes.

Date:
June 1, 1994

Photographic Guide of Selected External Defect Indicators and Associated Internal Defects in Sugar Maples

To properly classify or grade logs or trees, one must be able to correctly identify indicators and assess the effect of the underlying defect on possible end products. This guide assists the individual in identifying the surface defect indicator and shows the progressive stages of the defect throughout its development for sugar maple. Eleven types of external defect indicators and associated defects that are particularly difficult to evaluate are illustrated and described.

Date:
May 1, 1991

Height-Diameter Relations of Maple Street Trees

Height and diameter measurements were taken for silver, sugar and Norway maple street trees in Rochester and Syracuse, New York.

Publication:
Journal of Arboriculture
Date:
September 1, 1990

Timing of defoliation and its effect on bud development, starch reserves, and sap sugar concentration in sugar maple

Sapling sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) trees were defoliated artificially at 10-day intervals beginning May 27 and ending August 5, 1981. Refoliation, terminal bud and shoot development, and xylem starch and sap sugar concentration were observed in defoliated and control trees. All defoliated trees refoliated, but decreasingly with later defoliation. Defoliation caused an acceleration in the rate of primordia initiation in terminal shoot apices. After early season defoliations, the developing buds in the axils of the removed leaves abscissed, but axillary and terminal buds on the refoliated terminal shoots survived through winter. In late season defoliation, most buds of refoliated shoots did not survive and the next year’s growth depended on axillary buds formed prior to defoliation. Thus, when progressing from early to late defoliations, the next year’s shoot growth depended decreasingly on the last-formed and increasingly on the first-formed portions of the previous year’s shoot. Early October starch concentration in xylem decreased with later defoliation and was nearly absent in shoots and roots of trees defoliated in late July. There was not, however, a corresponding decrease in sap sugar concentration. Mortality occurred only in late defoliated trees and was associated with starch depletion.

Publication:
Canadian Jounal of Forest Research
Date:
January 1, 1986

Compartmentalization: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding how Trees Grow and Defend Themselves

The purpose of this chapter is to describe a conceptual framework for understanding how trees grow and how they and other perennial plants defend themselves. The concept of compartmentalization has developed over many years, a synthesis of ideas from a number of investigators. It is founded on observations of trees injured in the field by wind, snow, ice, fire, animals, and insects, as well as during pruning, coppicing, sugaring, and other forest and orchard management practices. It is based on experimental studies of natural and artificial wounds with and without controlled inoculations with selected pathogenic and saprophytic microorganisms.

Publication:
Annual Review of Phytopathology
Date:
January 1, 1984

Sapstreak Disease Of Sugar Maple

Sapstreak is a fatal disease of sugar maple that usually enters the tree through basal trunk scars or root wounds. The disease most often affects large, wounded trees left after logging. The fungus causing sapstreak readily infects stumps or cut logs during the summer months. So, wounding sugar maples during this time will increase the potential for disease spread. In the Lake States, sapstreak has only been found in a few areas of Michigan and at one location in Wisconsin. Although few trees have been killed by sapstreak, it has the potential to become a serious disease in sugar maple stands.

Date:
January 1, 1980

Tapholes in Sugar Maples: What Happens in the Tree

Maple syrup production starts by drilling a taphole in the tree. This process injures the wood, which may become discolored or decayed as a result. If trees are to be tapped, every effort must be made to minimize injury while obtaining the desired amount of sap. Information about tapholes is given here for the benefit of the producer. Some important points discussed are: how trees compartmentalize discolored and decayed wood associated with tapholes, how some tapping procedures lead to cambial dieback around the hole, the problem of overtapping related to increased use of mechanical tappers, and new information on the use of para formaldehyde pills, which can lead to more decay in trees.

Date:
June 1, 1978