No recent construction and it is a twenty year old house.

Tree cutting man stopped by today - he has been cutting trees for other
folks in the neighborhood. He pointed out that the trees hav powdery sawdust
at the base indicating beetle damage. He says it is a southern pine beetle
that will bore into the tree and suck the sap out - killing the tree within
a few short weeks. I questioned him about why the beetle didn't seem to
attack the pines, but he didn't have an answer. But, there certainly was
fine sawdust on the bark in many places.

He gave me a quote of $500 to cut the three trees down - no hauling away of
the wood. He says that is a discount because I can cut, split and burn the
pieces. I'm going to get another quote before agreeing to his offer.

As for the beetles, well he says that there is a spray that you need to put
on the base of the trunks to protect the tress. Something like 'landane'
that has recently been banned becasue of cancer causing, but there is an
alternate spray.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks,
Robert

"Elizabeth" wrote in message
ink.net...
Are you in a fairly new house or new development with construction
happening
within the past few years? Construction is very hard on trees. Damage to
the
root systems begins to kill off nearby trees within a few years. In 1997,
I
moved into a new subdivision that used to be woods. Several of the trees
on
my lot slowly died, losing top branches first. Others that were not as
close
to the path of destruction are doing OK. Mulching in a wide circle around
the trees seems to help but if the damage has been done, you can only wait
and see which ones will make it.

E.

"Robert Gray" wrote in message
. com...
Looks like I've lost another three oak trees this year.

Three of them (about 12-14" diameter) died last year, along with a
dogwood.
Common wisdom at the time seemed to be the draught had taken it's toll.
I
cut them down and mulched the area last fall. As a matter of fact, there
was
one that died the year before that.

Now, I see that two more oaks with trunks 2'-3' wide have been leafless
for
most (if not all) of the summer. A third one about (18" diameter trunk)
has
some leaves, but the highest branches are barren with no growth.

I have no idea what is going on. The pines in the same area show no
indication of distress. Other than mulching, I don't do any special care
like watering, spraying or pruning. They are basically trees in the
'woods'.
They are within about 50-75 ft of each other.

These are big old trees - maybe a hundred years, and it is a terrible
shame
they are dying. But I don't know what to do to prevent it from
spreading.
Any advice appreciated.

Robert

I had good luck with Matthews Tree Service. I don't have the number
off-hand, but they are in the book. I used them twice, and my contact was
Cliff Feather both times. I got quotes from them and Jordan. They were so
much cheaper than Jordan that I didn't bother to get a 3rd estimate. They
did haul away the trees too. You just need to mark the trees, and they will
leave a written quote in your mailbox, then you can call back to schedule
the removal.

Elizabeth

"Robert Gray" wrote in message
. com...
No recent construction and it is a twenty year old house.

Tree cutting man stopped by today - he has been cutting trees for other
folks in the neighborhood. He pointed out that the trees hav powdery
sawdust
at the base indicating beetle damage. He says it is a southern pine beetle
that will bore into the tree and suck the sap out - killing the tree
within
a few short weeks. I questioned him about why the beetle didn't seem to
attack the pines, but he didn't have an answer. But, there certainly was
fine sawdust on the bark in many places.

He gave me a quote of $500 to cut the three trees down - no hauling away
of
the wood. He says that is a discount because I can cut, split and burn the
pieces. I'm going to get another quote before agreeing to his offer.

As for the beetles, well he says that there is a spray that you need to
put
on the base of the trunks to protect the tress. Something like 'landane'
that has recently been banned becasue of cancer causing, but there is an
alternate spray.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks,
Robert

"Elizabeth" wrote in message
ink.net...
Are you in a fairly new house or new development with construction
happening
within the past few years? Construction is very hard on trees. Damage to
the
root systems begins to kill off nearby trees within a few years. In
1997,
I
moved into a new subdivision that used to be woods. Several of the trees
on
my lot slowly died, losing top branches first. Others that were not as
close
to the path of destruction are doing OK. Mulching in a wide circle
around
the trees seems to help but if the damage has been done, you can only
wait
and see which ones will make it.

E.

"Robert Gray" wrote in message
. com...
Looks like I've lost another three oak trees this year.

Three of them (about 12-14" diameter) died last year, along with a
dogwood.
Common wisdom at the time seemed to be the draught had taken it's
toll.
I
cut them down and mulched the area last fall. As a matter of fact,
there
was
one that died the year before that.

Now, I see that two more oaks with trunks 2'-3' wide have been
leafless
for
most (if not all) of the summer. A third one about (18" diameter
trunk)
has
some leaves, but the highest branches are barren with no growth.

I have no idea what is going on. The pines in the same area show no
indication of distress. Other than mulching, I don't do any special
care
like watering, spraying or pruning. They are basically trees in the
'woods'.
They are within about 50-75 ft of each other.

These are big old trees - maybe a hundred years, and it is a terrible
shame
they are dying. But I don't know what to do to prevent it from
spreading.
Any advice appreciated.

Robert