OCR Text |
Show "STAGHEAD" OF FRUIT TREES Cause May Be Due to Various Unfavorable Un-favorable Conditions Top-Grafting Is Sometimes Necessary. Very frequently apple trees and some varieties of shade trees are seen with the topmost branches dead and remaining as dry sticks like antlers projecting above the foliage. This condition may be due to various unfavorable un-favorable conditions, but it is chiefly encountered with old trees which have long remained unsprayed, unpruned, uncultivated and unfertilized. This allows opportunity for wood destroying destroy-ing fungi to gain an entrance. Once started their growth will eventually destroy the whole tree. Severe heading head-ing back and clearing out of the dead and fungus infested wood followed by cultivation and fertilization should be resorted to. In some instances it may be necessary to top-graft to renew the head of the tree. The full results of such treatment do not show the first year. Great care should be taken not to leave wounds through which the spores of fungi can gain an entrance to cause future decay. During the past few years a large number of shade trees in the northeastern north-eastern part of the United States, and also the middle states have been affected af-fected with staghead. The trouble appears to have come chiefly from the root system, but exactly what causes it, is not definitely known at the present pres-ent time. There are many varieties of shade trees affected in this way, and this means their ultimate destruction, since those that do not die outright will never recover their tops, and are, therefore, worthless as specimens of shade trees. This dying back is particularly par-ticularly noticeable on elms. A characteristic feature of trees affected af-fected with staghead. more conspicuous conspicu-ous in slowly dying trees, may be seen in the increase of the heartwood and decrease of the sapwood. The wood of the dying trees is very brittle, and the limbs and branches fall off easily. Old trees reaching the end of their grand period of growtt usually show the same characteristic and for thib I 1 g z Elm Tree Dying With Staghead Ef. feet Note Dead, Stubby Branches at the Top. reason they, too, become dangerous. Many of the limbs and branches fall, a large percentage when there is no wind and where the atmosphere is usually quiet, especially during October Oc-tober and November, after the leaves have fallen. |