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Thread: What's up with the Maple Trees?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    Default What's up with the Maple Trees?

    I was driving on route 118 in Vermont the other day and I noticed in the distance pockets of maple trees looking brown. The pockets were anywhere from 50-150 acres if I had to guess. Are the leaves still developing at that altitude? I'm thinking they are around 2000 feet of so. I also noticed the same thing while driving to Newport the other day on the Jay mountain road. Even from my house I am looking at one a pocket of brown colored maples towards Montgomery. I have never noticed this before. Does Dr. Tim or anyone know what this is.

    Spud

  2. #2
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    Apr 2011
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    Eastern Ontario
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    Forest tent caterpillar stripping the leaves off the trees.

  3. #3
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    oh great. Once the leaves are gone there will be no sugar next season or does the tree die? There within five miles of me.

    Spud

  4. #4
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    Most of the trees will survive unless the infestation lasts several years and defoliates the trees each year. Additional stress such as drought will also cause increased mortality. Weak trees will succumb. There will be less carbohydrate produced by the tree this year. Some re-foliation will occur after the worms pupate. (This has probably already occurred or will very shortly.) You should examine your trees this Fall and winter for egg masses in the topmost twigs. If dense enouh masses occur then you should aerial spray with Bt in early May next year. My Sugar Maples and Red Oaks are currently 90% defoliated. The Red Maples are not affected.

  5. #5
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    Considerable more information available at http://fpr.vermont.gov/forest/forest_health Call VT FPR (if in Vermont) or Mark Isselhardt (UVM Maple Extension here at PMRC) if you have other questions.
    Dr. Tim Perkins
    UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
    http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
    https://mapleresearch.org
    Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu

  6. #6
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    Traveling down I-395 in Connecticut it looks like the trees have lost all their cover...........disgusting!!!

    Are the states working together to eliminate these creatures??? I'm from Mass so I'm guessing before they kill them they would set up a state funded program to relocate them
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Profirefighter View Post
    Forest tent caterpillar stripping the leaves off the trees.
    Likely the Eastern tent caterpillar. That's what's stripping trees all over eastern Ontario and Western Quebec.
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  8. #8
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    Nov 2005
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    We suffered through 5 years of severe deformation. It took 3 years of recovery to see a sugar content of 2 percent again, and that was only for the first couple of loads. Our average sugar content for the entire year is now between 1.3 and 1.2. I do not know what it was before the caterpillars, but I do know that we saw considerably more sugar.
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  9. #9
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    Actually, it Gypsy Moth defoliation. It has devastated Eastern Connecticut the last 2 years. We have had some relief this year with the wet weather that has activated a fungus in the soil that is lethal to the caterpillars.
    Most trees re-leaf if they are strong enough. I am really concerned about the Sugar Maples as they have been 75% defoliated and don't appear to be sending out new leaves. I think this is because instead of totally defoliating the tree, the caterpillars consume most but not all of the leaf, so the tree does not try to replace it.
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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by batsofbedlam View Post
    Actually, it Gypsy Moth defoliation.
    Depends where you are. Some areas are gypsy moth, other areas are forest tent caterpillars.
    Dr. Tim Perkins
    UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
    http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
    https://mapleresearch.org
    Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu

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