Trees took a beating from the Nor'easter

[jrm]

Wicked Nor'easter with very wet, heavy snow took down lots of branches, toppled trees, and broke some in half. Still 30% of my town without power.

I don't tsp that many trees. Of those, a few lost smallish branches in the canopy, a couple lost larger limbs either at the canopy, or lower down and "stripped" and tore the bark of the trunk as they came down. One multi-stemmed maple, that I haven't tapped, been waiting to deal with the poison ivy problem wrapping the tree, had one of its stems, ~12" diameter, break in half.

Question is, what should I be thinking about this year, or preparing for next year? I'm not quite ready to go into the woods yet, as there are still broken branches can't up high in surrounding trees. I'm going to give another day or two to see if the winds with knock them down.

On the positive side, my one tree that has been producing this season, has given me a gallon each of the last three days, and wasn't impacted at all. (My other taps still haven't produced anything.)

Thanks.

[Kettle Ridge]

Sorry to hear that but trees are resilient and assuming they don't actually die, the impact on your sugaring should be minimal. You will probably gain more from removing the poison ivy vines than you lost with that one big branch coming down (although the birds may not appreciate it - they love poison ivy berries). To deal with poison ivy vines I usually take a hatchet or long handled saw to cut them off near the ground, then spray a little concentrated glysophate on the cut stem. Good luck.

[Michael Greer]

We had a legendary ice storm here in '98, and you can still pick out the damage if you look up at the crowns. Trees that were bent to the ground, and those that snapped off became firewood for the next three years. Tidy up and gather the free firewood, but don't go crazy trying to restore everything to its original condition. Damaged trees may be in a bit of shock for the first year, but they will recover and come back bigger in time.

[jrm]

We had a legendary ice storm here in '98, and you can still pick out the damage if you look up at the crowns. Trees that were bent to the ground, and those that snapped off became firewood for the next three years. Tidy up and gather the free firewood, but don't go crazy trying to restore everything to its original condition. Damaged trees may be in a bit of shock for the first year, but they will recover and come back bigger in time.
The maple that crossed our drive is already in short logs waiting for the teens to move need the wood pile. I was pleased that's my baby 14" electric chainsaw was up to the task. Other trees that came down in the yard need a tree service, but, I'll also have also have it cut for wood.


Sorry to hear that but trees are resilient and assuming they don't actually die, the impact on your sugaring should be minimal. You will probably gain more from removing the poison ivy vines than you lost with that one big branch coming down (although the birds may not appreciate it - they love poison ivy berries). To deal with poison ivy vines I usually take a hatchet or long handled saw to cut them off near the ground, then spray a little concentrated glysophate on the cut stem. Good luck.
I've had trees in the past bend to the ground and recover, not maples, as well as having had branches drop, or parts split off. Just haven't experienced it with the maples, and tapping. So thanks for the encouragement. I'm still new enough to sugarin' as we'll as having woods on my property, that I didn't have a sense of impact. With the prior storms I've just figured... it was meant to be. And, for the non-wetlands area, made use of the wood.

Thanks for the tip, too, on the poison ivy. It "scares" me a bit and I've only dealt with the small bits I've needed to around the house. How do you deal with your tools etc., so a small not to spread the oils?

Thanks to both for your insights.

[Kettle Ridge]

How do you deal with your tools etc., so a small not to spread the oils?

You can wipe off the poison ivy oil with tecnu. But what I usually do is just saw or chop into an old log after I'm done with the poison ivy in order to wipe off the oil.

[maple flats]

I have poison ivy that is huge, some is 2 and 3" diameter vines growing up some trees. I used to be extremely allergic to it, but have now been around it enough that if I ever get it, I just get 1 or 2 blisters. Tecnu works good to remove it from you, I just use the tools on a few "clean" logs and don't worry about it. I even tap in the spaces between vines on a tree.
A friend (who's knowledge I truly respect) once told me to put some boron on the poison ivy, it will die, poison ivy can't survive where you have Boron. I think Borax has enough Boron to work, give it a try. However, if you are organic you might not be able to use anything.