Trees

Dennis,

My partner and I are trying to deal with mountains of tree leaves. The past four weekends have been taken up with nothing but yard work. We are about to drop from exhaustion.

We did reseed this past September and so we're trying to protect the newly germinated grass. Also, we tried mulch mowing the leaves last year, but the leaf particles we too large. They ended up compacting, killing areas of grass. Our lawn was spotty, particularly in the shaded areas. Thus, the diligent leaf removal this year.

White oak acornFrom blogger Mary Nemecek:

Does it seem like a bumper crop of acorns this year? It may be -- but part of the seeming acorn abundance may be a result of comparing this years acorn numbers to the previous two years, when acorn production was roughly half of what it should have been. Here’s why:

Mowing leavesIf you live in a neighborhood with big trees you probably look forward to the color each fall, then try to figure out what to do with them all when they fall. Dennis Patton has some good ideas about that this week. To read more, click here.

One of life’s yearly challenges is the seemingly endless removal and disposal of leaves from our lawns. It used to be that we thought nothing of raking them up, filling trash bag after trash bag and hauling them to the curb for trash collection. But in today’s world of diminishing resources, we should look for ways to avoid sending this bulky yard waste to the landfill and instead, save that valuable space for other material.

Sugar mapleI've got the day off so I went out on the deck -- it was a little cool so I wrapped up in a blanket and looked about 120 years old. But it was worth it because one of these sugar maples across the street is about at its peak. Better than TV. Photo from maple-trees.com. - Craig

Evergreen Tree Trouble: Loosing more needles than normal

I have several large evergreen trees in my yard, not sure what kind exactly. This year I noticed they are dropping more needels than I would think is typical. I've included some pictures, can anyone suggest what might be causing this? I don't want to loose these trees. There hasn't been a huge drought or rainfall. There are some moles I believe in this area and some fungus at times on the ground.

Any suggestions is apprecieated.

By Norman Winter
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
At a meeting last weekend I felt like a discovered the Garden of Eden in Mount Vernon, Ga. I was at Brewton-Parker College and was given a tour of the campus by its president, Dr. David Smith. I noticed that everywhere I looked there was a native dogwood. I couldn’t help but think to myself, “These dogwoods are for the birds.”

Is there anything that can be done about the Sweet Gum Tree balls short of cutting down the trees?

I have a beautiful pink crabapple that blooms wonderfully in the spring. however by july it looses most of it leaves. i have tried spraying it, i have used bayer insecticide that you mix and pour onto the roots.
I live in the country, i have noticed the crabapples that are in the city, still have thier leaves...
What can i do to keep my tree from loosing leafs.

Enjoyed Dennis Patton's article in KC Star's Grow section! I have this tree and totally agree with all that was written. Right now my 'tree' looks more like a bush. Currently it is about 5' tall. When is the best time to trim the lower branches and can I try to propagate using these cuttings?

I was surprised to find honeycrisp apple trees at a local nursery because I thought these trees were pretty much limited to the northern states. Can these be successfully grown in the KC area? If so, does it require a lot of spraying or other effort to produce viable apples? Honeycrisps are without a doubt the best apples I have ever eaten and I'd be thrilled to grow my own but I am also realistic enough to know that if it requires a lot of effort (especially spraying), they probably aren't the trees for me. Thanks for your help!

We have a spot where a tree would look good. It would get morning sun, some southern sun and filtered afternoon sun. We like the looks of a purple beech (on the Nelson grounds) and a bald cypress (on the Discovery Center grounds). Do you recommend one over the other? Thanks.

Need a little advice about my beautiful beech tree. It is approximately 23 years old, planted 5 ½ feet off the front of the house, 3 ft. in circumference and approximately 35-40 ft. tall. I’m worried this was planted too close the house, has grown too large and will start messing with my foundation and/or plumbing any minute. What to do?

Thank you in advance for your advice –

Kate

We have about a dozen pine trees that need to be cleaned out around the trunk. We have whacked down the tall weeds, which are now growing back. We plan on killing them off with glyphosate in the next week or so. I'll apply it with aa paint roller so there is no drift to hurt the trees. Then we would like to regularly put down the pre-emergent granules (Treflan) we use in the ornamental beds. We will also mulch, but weeds always find a way to come through mulch!

I have an Autumn Glory Maple that was planted 5 years ago. I bought one of those rubberized tree rings to protect it from the mower and keep down weeds. As the tree grew, I split the ring and moved it out from the trunk but still left it in place covered with bark mulch.

Is the Franklin Tree specimen still at the Overland Park Arboretum? I looked for it in the Monet area, but was not able to find it.

Your comments regarding tri color beech trees was among those found via a google search.
I purchased a property last year which has a tri-color beech tree and this evening, on closer inspection, found that it has a lot of limbs with green leaves. The tree is probably at least 50 years old. Should I accept that it has reverted to green and let it grow or should I begin aggressive pruning?

We bought 2 maples from a nursery this year, they are both approx. 3 inches in diameter and about 15 feet tall. I think that 1 is an Autumn blaze and the other is an Autumn glory. They were planted in May, had some wilt but seemed to recover alright. Thye had small leaves but otherwise no problems. Now, however, The autumn blaze is having premature color change in the leaves. None have dropped yet but about 2/3 of the leaves, starting from the crown are now brilliant red. The other maple had more problems after transplantation.

While living in South Carolina we had crape myrtle trees. Here in KC we've tried to grow a couple of varieties, but the branches all die off in winter; and then completely new shoots start appearing in May and then our crape myrtles reappear as bushes. We'd like to be able to cultivate them to a tree status like in KC, but is this possible here in a colder winter climate? And if we purchased a more mature tree-form from down south, would they survive better than the smaller, less mature forms that they sell here in KC????

Jim Webb
Lee's Summit, MO

I was weed whacking over the weekend and got to close to a young crabapple I planted 3 years ago. It's about 8 feet tall. I took the bark off about a third of a circumference around the base, hopefully not too deep, but it's making me ill to think about. What should I do?