"Dutch elm disease" has ravaged the upper midwest of thousands of beloved neighborhood icons....."same thing"?
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/trees/pp324w.htm
Posted by mook at July 6, 2008 11:35 PMThe oleanders are dying in North-Central Phoenix.
"The actual disease is called oleander leaf scorch, which is caused by Xylella fastidiosa, a bacterium carried from plant to plant by the smoke tree sharpshooter.
The bacterium gets in the plant's vascular system and prevents water from reaching the outer branchings. Eventually, the whole plant dies.
The bugs and the oleanders lived together here for decades before the bacterium messed things up. Scientists believe the bacterium came to Arizona on vegetation trucked into the Valley from California.
Unfortunately, there's no cure, said Alexander Purcell, professor emeritus in entomology at the University of California-Berkeley."
Some of these are over 20 feet tall and 50 years old. They are VERY poisonous and should only be eaten by republicans.
"Some of these are over 20 feet tall and 50 years old. They are VERY poisonous and should only be eaten by republicans."
TIKI, thanks for my first laugh of the morning. Good way to start a day.
My oleander tree has spider mites, and nothing, and I mean nothing, will rid the plant of them. Sprays, soapy water, replanting, nothing. Any suggestions?
I live in an area that has elm strees lining the streets. Everytime I hear the Forestry Department trucks, I know another one has bit the dust. We lose them constantly to disease.
Most of these devastating tree diseases are made worse by the much warmer winters we get with global warming. Winter had been the thing that checked these invasions in the past. Dutch elm for instance has spiked again in the past 6 years because the northern winters are too warm to kill the beetles that carry the spores.
I'm amazed there are many elms left in MO. Only a very few cities have any appreciable numbers of them left. If you see a 50 inch diameter, hundred year old elm, it's one of the last of its kind.
Enjoy a great old tree when you see it now, it's likely to be dead of something in the next few years---whatever species it happens to be. Everything that is worth anything has been destroyed by Bushco.
I never got to see the forests of Northern CA; sounds like they are gone now, from disease or endless seasons of 21st century wildfires.
Posted by euzoius at July 7, 2008 06:41 AMWonder how bad these fires would have been had loggers been able to clear the fallen trees?
Posted by peter at July 7, 2008 06:42 AMWonder how bad these fires would have been had loggers been able to clear the fallen trees?
Should have logged it bald and taken the redwoods too. Nothing spells economic special interest and fire safety better than a denuded landscape. I wish they would get rid of the cliffs at La Jolla because they could use the gravel to make the logging roads to get the oaks out. The cliffs are just eroding away anyway.
Posted by phidipides at July 7, 2008 07:48 AMWonder how bad these fires would have been had loggers been able to clear the fallen trees?
Stop beating your wife yet, Peter?
C'mon, you pathological liar. Embedding a falsehood in a question.
The BLM, NPS, and NFS policies have for years been promoting the removal of fuel from forest floors. The natural forest environment is one in which fires are a frequent (once every few years) occurance. The fires clear the ground of fuels and also of the smaller trees that compete with the larger ones. They also get rid of species like Gamble ("Scrub") Oak that are very hot burners and, if they grow too high, serve as ladder fuels to allow fires to climb from the ground to the tops of the trees. Modern forest management policy is very much supportive of clearing these things out.
Of course, what your greedy Republican logging companies want is NOT the stuff on the ground. Unless a healthy tree is felled by a severe storm, a fallen tree is almost never of use to the logging industry. What your lying friends want to do is to pretend they are doing salvage logging when in fact they virtually clear cut an area.
You know, you think you're doing a good service but by propogating these lies you are part of an industry that, collectively, causes misery and death. You suck, Peter.
Posted by Anonny at July 7, 2008 07:56 AMThe Elms in Iowa are gone. The trees that were along my street (Elm Ave.) have been gone so long that the replacement trees have all matured into the empty spaces. The only thing that remains is the street name.
The Sudden Oak Death reads like Dutch Elm - if it crosses the Rockies, the Midwest will be decimated again.
Posted by idiosynchronic at July 7, 2008 08:25 AMJust read an article in the local paper today that mentioned that McCain's health care plan would tax employer health benefits as regular income (instead of not being taxed). So McCain goes around talking about how Obama's increase of the capital gains tax will impact anyone with a 401(k), (is he lying or just stupid?), but no one is talking about how McCain's plan will increase taxes on everyone who has an employer provided health care plan. Gah!
Posted by CG at July 7, 2008 08:25 AMMcCain's health care plan would tax employer health benefits as regular income
No need to worry about it. Under Ace McCain's plan employers lose the tax exemption for employee health care. They won't be providing it anyway, so no need to worry about it being taxed.
Hey, did you see Ace McCain's deficit reduction plan? It comes from the peace dividend from winning in Iraq and Afghanistan! They'll greet us with sweet tea and cakes! He is a delusional old fucktard at best.
Posted by phidipides at July 7, 2008 08:42 AMeuzoius, You can still find the tallest redwoods up in Humboldt, CA. The Giant Sequoia still stand in Yosemite. They are still protected from man.
Better see 'em quick however, who knows what will get to them now. There is still some clear cutting in areas of Northern CA.
When I lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains I saw plenty of stumps left behind of the clear cutting of the oldest and largest coastal Redwoods. This was a logging industry that had peaked from 1850 to 1900.
I remember local, old timers telling me of Salmon swimming up the rivers and creeks near Santa Cruz (heck, even as far south as Santa Maria) and that Bear and Mountain Lion used to be common in the coastal mountains. There are still a few protected coastal Redwood parks you can hike in the Santa Cruz area.
Posted by Seven of Six at July 7, 2008 10:16 AMSounds like his plan is a covert effort to do away with employer provided health care. That's actually an idea that appeals to me, but this is not the way to go about it. The article I read also said that healthy people may find a better price in the open market and will leave the employer plan, leaving employer plans with only older sicker people, which will then cause prices to rise, which causes more healthy people to leave, and then employers will just give up and not provide it anymore. Geez, just come up with a plan to move away from employer provided health insurance if that's what you want to do. Don't do it in a way that's going to screw sick people.
Posted by CG at July 7, 2008 10:18 AM"a denuded landscape"
...If we do a really good job will the earth stop producing oxygen and finally let those majestic asteroids crash into the surface?
La Jolla's Torrey Pines golf course might have to be renamed but it would be much more challenging with craters.
Ace McCain AKA the Dead Baron?
Posted by TIKI AL at July 7, 2008 10:45 AMI have a friend who works in the forestry research facilities here in Oregon and it appears that:
1) The disease is not limited to oaks, several (many) other types of trees and bushes appear to be susceptible, the big worry in Oregon is that Douglas fir trees are also vulnerable.
2) New last year said that Oregon nurseries, that ship nationwide, were discovered to have the disease present at their sites. Attempts to recall shipped product was not completely successful. We may already have spread it nationwide.
Posted by charlie at July 7, 2008 11:11 AMEuzoius, well obviously I don't know my trees. Your right, we have birch and sycamores that line our streets, creating canopys, not elm trees.
Posted by Judith at July 7, 2008 08:44 PM