My area was hit extremely hard by gypsy moth caterpillars in 21-22 with tens of thousands of acres defoliated. Right around my house was especially devastated, and while most trees recovered, my red oaks took the brunt of it. Standing on my deck, I can easily count 20 old, tall red oaks on my land that are dead with countless more on the surrounding properties. Taking them down is going to be a slow process, however I had a local tree company stop by this week to look at the five right near the house (I will fell the ones in the woods, but these five are just too close to the house and power lines for my comfort). Since they'll need to bring in a crane, I'm not looking forward to the $$ estimate, but it needs to be done. It will be an ongoing and multi-year process, starting with those closest to the house. The good news is that in a few years, I will be burning some great red oak. The bad news is that obviously I am losing some of the oldest trees on my property, just about all my best shade trees, and felling these trees will completely change the look and ambiance of the property. Mother nature wins this round. Surprisingly enough, I don’t get that much red oak to burn on a regular basis. In my usual scrounging areas, the typical scores are beech, red and silver maple, ash, and white and river birch. Despite the downsides, having all this red oak to burn will be a luxury.
That really stinks. I lost some nice shady Ash trees in my yard to the EAB. They make good firewood and I replanted with Maple and Honey Locust. Gotta roll with the punches and make the best of a situation. One thing I've learned is that nothing stays the same-there is always going to be changes and I need to adapt. Sorry to hear of your stuation.
Hopefully some of the younger trees will grow faster to replace your shade. RO is a dream to process and burn.
That is a lot of tree mortality for one year of defoliation, or did they get hit a couple years in a row? I am noticing a lot of adult moths right now laying egg masses on my property and am considering getting it sprayed next year.
Too bad. Same thing in CT few years back. I have several long killed white oaks I could take down at storage should I wish.
That's about what I'm expecting to pay. The person who runs the tree company is an acquaintance, and his father lives a couple houses away from me so I'm hoping to get a bit of a break; however, he will have to subcontract the crane so paying for that will be full price. As the old saying goes, it is what it is. And still cheaper than trying to Harry-homeowner the trees down and one falling on the house. I was just talking about how everything changes a couple days ago with someone. I've been here for fifteen years and to me it seems things have changed drastically in the area (and not for the better IMO). Like you said though, gotta roll with the punches, and you can't fight Mother Nature. Not sure what I'll replant when the time comes but leaning towards oak again. Clearing everything out will definitely allow for more of the young growth to take off (the canopy was always very think) but I'll have to keep an eye on the softwoods. I don't mind the spruce and hemlock, but I don't want the eastern white pine to replace the hardwoods I lost. I burned some RO last winter from a tree I took down out back several years ago. Beech is still my favorite, but RO is a close second up here. We were hit two years (21 & 22). Thankfully they died off after that as they can run 3-5 years sometimes. The picture below is from 2021 near where I live. And 2022 was much, much worse. There were so many caterpillars and living almost in the national forest made spraying a moot point. It only really works if those around you spray as well. I remember that as well. My biggest concern with all the dead trees now is forest fires. With so many tourists in the region, all it takes is one careless person with a campfire/cigarette/etc. and things can go from bad to worse very quickly. Thankfully we've been getting some weekly soakers in the region, which while it mucks things up for the tourists, I'll take the rain any day. Taking the five RO closest to the house will give me a good starting point for my future oak hoard and I'll work on the outlying oaks as time goes on. They aren't going anywhere and it's like money in the bank.
I have 4 EAB killed ash trees here. They continue to leaf out on lower branches. I'll need to have a tree service drop them for me. Expensive fire wood. A bit of a silver lining to the $'s spent.
Always helps to find the silver lining and stay positive. "It's only money" as they say, and it will be great to finally have a sizeable red oak stash (I've been somewhat jealous of your seemingly never-ending red oak hoard). Another positive is that I'll finally be able to use my driveway again full time. A couple of the dead oaks overhang the driveway and I have to move vehicles anytime there is any significant wind (which as you know is quite often up here). I have three huge piles of downed branches/limbs from these dead oaks from last winter just waiting to go into the chipper. Additionally, I've been somewhat out of the hoarding game for the last three years due to health issues. Knock on wood but I'm starting to get back out there. Luckily, I was three-plus years ahead with my hoard, so I was good to go firewood-wise. Now I have to slowly rebuild my stockpile and all these oaks that have to come down (plus quite a few white birch) will be a nice start. And another positive is that my primary scrounge area is inaccessible this year due to the road washing out last December (the forest service does not plan to repair it this year). So being able to harvest a lot of dead firewood from my own acreage is a plus, despite the sadness of losing the trees.
This ^^^ I'd drive up for a overnighter, sleeping comfortably in my van. Get the trees down, and we'll cut them up!
Something to consider. Not too many FHC members in my neck of the woods, and nothing would happen this year, but it is something to think about for the future. You just want an excuse to come back up to the area outside of your two annual visits!
Oh I’m sure of that, Mike! I said walt as he and seven other outstanding FHC members from 4 different states came here to the sticks of southwest VA back in ‘16 and took down ~20 trees- bucked and split- in the span of 3 hot August days. It was amazing and extremely humbling at the same time.
The arborist is a climber however the first four oaks I need taken down are just too close to the house and power lines for comfort. The remainder of the dead trees can either be done with climbing or traditional felling. We had a quick, very strong storm come through yesterday afternoon with a cold front and the amount of dead limbs coming down on the roof and around the house was crazy. Largest limb the I had to clean off the deck was about six inches in diameter. Luckily there was no apparent damage to anything. The same storm had a microburst about ten minutes from me that brought all kinds of trees down, power out, etc.
On the GTG, I well remember when Brian had one near you and there were a good amount of hoarders there. Still sorry to hear you lost so many trees and it will take some cash to get those down near the house.
