It sure does. I cut most every stick of usable BTUs I can. I always say that as long as you cut more than you can burn in a day, that you are ending up ahead of the game.
Oak leaves and white pine needles will be the first to go. Good luck. Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk
Every tree around us last summer was eaten by the gypsy moths. When you went outside in May and June you could hear them eating the leaves. By July all of the trees were bare including the pines, it looked like the middle of winter. Most of the pines started to regrow needles at the top, but they are struggling to survive. Landscape looks much different with the pines losing 90% of their needles.
This will be our third year of massive gypsy damage and population. If the eggs are any indication and we have a dry Spring and they don't get that disease that kills them. Before that was Winter moths. I think the gypsy population is what has knocked the Winter moth population down. The trees so bare here for two or three Summers now it has been safe to walk outside after three without being drenched in DEET. There's been hardly any mosquitos.
Split some pine late this afternoon. By hand because I couldn't get the splitter started. The cover blew off the rounds so it is soaking wet with all the rain we've had. Testing 31% on a split piece. We'll see how quick they dry back out. A whopping 14 cubic feet, but it is 1/9 cord more pine splits split than I had yesterday. :stacke: That's aroundabout how much I have bone dry left ready for this year so I might need some of it. Used more pine than usual and expected this year so far, which all-in-all is OK because I have plenty of pie trees.
You heard them eating ? Or you heard their poops raining down . With the drought here some of the trees tried to regrow and collapsed. I think I have some white oaks that didn't make it. I'll know in a couple of months.
I do remember being able to hear them eating and the poop raining. Definitely not looking forward to it.
Knocked off a quarter cord of the dead standing pine this afternoon. Split Till my right arm hurts. Not used to splitting by hand. This should get me by if I need some more pine this Spring. Some test samples tested anywhere from 13-28%. It dries out pretty quick split into smaller splits if I can keep the rain and snow off it. I can always leave anything that still feels heavy behind for next year. Not much pine in rounds left to split. That's a pile of red maple in the foreground I need to get to too.
Looks like you have plenty of wood sources. In some of these pics, your property looks pretty rugged.
Any thoughts on treating them? I'd imagine many trees are already stressed quite a bit from the drought conditions last year. A bout with the gypsy moth could do them in this year. Gypsy Moth Management for Homeowners on Small Properties | Publications and Educational Resources | Virginia Tech
Back in the 80's our property was completely devastated by gypsy moths. You could see a half mile swath on our mountain that looked like it was the middle of winter. And you could hear them eating the leaves and their poop and pieces of leaves raining down. Dad got together with the neighbors and they sprayed with a helicopter. Our area is oak forest, so it was hit hard and many trees did not survive the defoliation. Sad!
Billb3, How big is your property? looks huge in the pics.....Nice work! and I love the strategically placed Stihl in your pics! I'm thinking about having my trees sprayed before spring, last 4 years between winter and Gypsy my Maples wont last much longer.
