Saving a Maple tree

[SPIKER]

...
I still have a few left. I quit using them though cause the dog would go around the house and eat them all:mur:

LD I think you NEED to get that DOG checked out, maybe he was eating the bug killer sticks to finish off the live millipedes he's been eating :x

Someone said have it checked for worms, and I agree but who knows maybe the sticks worked on the worms too lol...

Mark

 

[Pilot]

Yes, cut the dead limbs whenever you want. However, do not seal the cut ends. That's an old method that has been found to actually encourage decay. As soon as you cut the limb, the bare end will dry and actually prevent decay. Also, cut the end at an angle that will let water run off.


Are the ants climbing the outside of the tree? I once stopped an infestation by slathering on a layer of grease. Too much on one tree killed it, but the second one survived. The trees weren't very large and the bark was still thin. I used general purpose grease like you would find around a shop; a vegetable based grease would probably be safer.

Condition of the heartwood has no effect on whether the tree is close to dying. Heartwood is dead wood already. Many trees, hollowed out by decay or bugs survive a very long time; most of the strength is in the outer cylinder, the inner portion adds little strength.

I wouldn't do this to a live tree, but I recently killed a carpenter ant colony by pouring a little gasoline on the stump they were nesting in. Worked really well.

 

[PhysAssist]

We have had frequent problems with carpenter ants leaving their trees and coming into our house in the small gaps (too small for chinking) between some of our logs.

Besides sealing/caulking any areas we identify, the other main tool we have used has been Home Defense, which although it does not kill immediately, it does eventually kill the whole nest. Apparently they get it on their legs and bodies, and then they carry it back to the nest, and as they are groomed by other ants, it is ingested and kills the nest.

We spray it wherever we see ants in or on the house, and (more relevant to your post) we also spray it into any cavities we find in trees or logs we cut or have delivered, especially if we see ants coming out of them.

We do a perimeter spray around the bottom 3' of our foundation once in the spring and again as needed if there is a storm with heavy driving rain, because that apparently does wash it off (as evidenced by a new influx of ant scouts a week or two after the storm. We have used this for about 15 years as needed without apparent harm to our koi in their pond downhill and downstream of the house and all our wood piles. We also still have tree frogs, toads, leopard frogs, bullfrogs, and several species each of salamanders and king snakes living in relatively close proximity to our house, none of which appear to have suffered ill effect, unlike at my BIL's house in the suburban Chemlawn desert, where no amphibians survive the toxic spraying.

YMMV
Thomas

 

[LD1]

LD I think you NEED to get that DOG checked out, maybe he was eating the bug killer sticks to finish off the live millipedes he's been eating :x

Someone said have it checked for worms, and I agree but who knows maybe the sticks worked on the worms too lol...

Mark

He also eats treated lumber, OSB, and metal trim from my garage :MUR:

I am going to have to start a thread about that stupid dog one of these days...

 

[SPIKER]

He also eats treated lumber, OSB, and metal trim from my garage :MUR:

I am going to have to start a thread about that stupid dog one of these days...

When we were kids, the neighborhood trucking company has a German Shepard guard dog that was about mean as snot. We worked there cleaning stuff in summer time (buddies dad was maintenance guy for the trucking company.)

We painted a few rigs and the like well part of the duties was dog duty scooping & feeding. That thing would tear open full cans of dog food it was tied to a truck tire & rim & would pull it around the shop pretty easy. For some reason it loved to eat brooms, if they were not hung up 8' or better off the floor it was ate at night when the dog had free reign inside the rig bays. I remember the one straw brooms that all that was left was a pile of tooth picks and maybe a 10 or 12" stub of a handle chewed down to 1/2 it's dia.

It particularly like use 3 kids as it rejoiced in grabbing one of our legs & having its way with us. :/ I think I'm still emotionally scared a bit lol.

One sat morning we opened up and found one of the truck drivers holding onto a beam 15' in the air. he got in late from a run and was parking the rig inside when the dog cornered him all he could do is climb the steel beam to get away.

Mark

 

[LD1]

When we were kids, the neighborhood trucking company has a German Shepard guard dog that was about mean as snot. We worked there cleaning stuff in summer time (buddies dad was maintenance guy for the trucking company.)

We painted a few rigs and the like well part of the duties was dog duty scooping & feeding. That thing would tear open full cans of dog food it was tied to a truck tire & rim & would pull it around the shop pretty easy. For some reason it loved to eat brooms, if they were not hung up 8' or better off the floor it was ate at night when the dog had free reign inside the rig bays. I remember the one straw brooms that all that was left was a pile of tooth picks and maybe a 10 or 12" stub of a handle chewed down to 1/2 it's dia.

It particularly like use 3 kids as it rejoiced in grabbing one of our legs & having its way with us. :/ I think I'm still emotionally scared a bit lol.

One sat morning we opened up and found one of the truck drivers holding onto a beam 15' in the air. he got in late from a run and was parking the rig inside when the dog cornered him all he could do is climb the steel beam to get away.

Mark

:laughing:

Sounds a lot like my dog, only he's no German Sheppard. Hes a mutt through and through.

His mom was also a mut. Her mom was 1/2 Blue tick 1/2 Black lab, and her dad as 1/2 Black Lab 1/2 Rott.

So that makes her about 25% Blue Tick, 25% Rott, and 50% Lab. Then she got knocked up by some other mutt that had shar-pei it it, and this was the offspring :laughing: