My Introduction to Prickley Ash

A bane of the woodlot owner is Prickly Ash [Zanthoxylum americanum]. It is a very thorny bush and though I had heard of it I had never identified it in the wild until last summer when I made a visit to a friend's woodlot near Kingston ON. It is an awful thorny bush and likely worse than a wild rose. It is undoubtedly impossible to walk through without chaps or other leg protection. 

I was of the false opinion that this was probably not an issue in our area until, on a recent trip this summer in the Perth area I had noticed an unusual bush that stood about 2 metres high and had interesting clusters of berries near the stem. I took a sample of it home for positive identification. Sure enough using Trees in Canada ISBN 1-55041-199-3, it was definitely identified as Prickly ash. I have since found it along a road not more than 6 km away from here, and more recently found a patch of it in our very own woodlot. 

Unlike buckthorn and other invasive plants, Prickly Ash is apparently not that hard to control by just cutting it back. Buckthorn on the other hand just keeps sprouting up even after three or four years of cutting back.

Deer Damage to Little Maples

After a month of nice seasonal wintery weather, over the last week all the snow has basically melted away with the rain. I took advantage of this lowered ground cover to see if I could now find the sugar maples that we planted in the front field last spring. During the summer and fall the herbaceous growth was so thick that I was unable to find any of the maples that we planted. Now with the snow having pushed down the weeds, the saplings were very easy to find with their blue flagging tape around the stems. Had we not marked each tree with blue flagging tape finding them would have been totally hopeless.

Deciduous trees do not complete well against grasses in the first stages of life, until they reach above the height of the mature weeds. In our field the trees have to compete against plants like golden rod, purple loosestife, barn grass and joe pye weed all of which typically grow up to a metre (3 feet) tall. When neighbours throw out old carpeting I often offer to pick them up and use them for weed control around seedlings in grassy areas.

I will cut the carpeting into 60 cm (2 feet) squares and cut a slit from the center out. I will also cut a small 3 inch cross at the centre to make some room to position it around the stem. I then place the carpet piece around the base of the small tree fuzzy side down. This quite effectively stops the weeds from growing right next to the tree and from competing with it for moisture, light and nutrients. Seems to work quite well. Since the carpets take some time to decompose, they can usually be reused to at least start one more tree.

Out of the 10 sugar maples that we planted only two which were quite short did not have their tops chomped off by deer. This is a problem since the terminal bud (at the top of the tree) is what really promotes tree growth. It is not uncommon to find young maples bushy and stunted because of deer browsing. I will have to come up with some sort of a protective mechanism for the terminal bud. The attached website provides some excellent information on controlling deer damage.

A Meal for One Bird is the Life of Another

Today there was evidence of a real life drama in the snow as witnessed in these photos. The feathers appeared to be the same hue as that of a slate-colored junco of which there is a quite a few that feed on the cracked corn that we broadcast over the snow. We have noticed a sharp shinned or cooper's hawk visiting our fields from time to time which might identify the predator in this drama who is only trying to sustain itself.  Other than the feathers there was no waste.

Planting of a Honey Locust

Since I live inside the City of Ottawa I am entitled to one free tree each year as part of the city's Tree Program.  This year I requested and received a Honey Locust. That is to say that the tag on the tree states Locust Gleditsia. In my tree book the Honey Locust's scientific name is Gleditsia triacanthos L. Another name for it is the Thorny locust and indeed it is thorny.  It produces long bean-like seed pods.

The delivered tree's height is 2.4 m. ~8 feet. and dbh (diameter of the stem at breast height which is 1.3 m (~4¼ feet) above ground) is 1.6 cm (5/8 in).

Its French name is févier épineux.

The tree is planted in the acre around the house.

Workshop on Fomes Annosa (Heterobasidion annosum)

Yesterday, Sept 21, 2010, I attended a workshop on Fomes Annosa (Heterobasidion annosum) (FA) which was put on by Richard Wilson Phd. a tree pathologist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources based out of Sault Ste Marie. It was held at the Larose Forest which is located about 50 kilometres East of Ottawa.

FA is a fungus that attacks particularly red pine (Pr) trees and only affects injured trees since it gets in through the wound.

The morning consisted of technical presentations including an Overview of Forest Health in Ontario, Fomes Root Rot in Ontario, and Overview of the Pesticides Act and Regulations: What You need to know in order to apply pesticides. The first two presentations were provided by Dr. Wilson while the pesticide presentation was given by Scott Olan, Pesticide Specialist with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

In the afternoon we proceeded out to the forest to observe signs and symptoms of Fomes Annosa, discussion on Red Pine management, and various management methods and options.

Heartwood includes a number of small red pine (Pr) groves. FA effects mainly the Pr and what makes it so unique is that Pr roots will graft together with roots of neighbouring Pr trees and share nutrients.

What I learned from this workshop was how trees are exposed to the FA and methods to identify the disease and to minimize its spread. A Pr becomes particularly susceptible when it is cut down. The stump then becomes a scar where the fungus can take hold and it then can travel to the neighbouring trees through the grafted root system killing the neighbouring trees. 

One of the interesting methods of controlling this spread it to dig a trench around an affected area thus effectively cutting off the root connections with neighbouring trees. This technique was used in the Larose Forest long ago and it proved to be quite effective since healthy neighbouring trees outside such a trench survived well. We looked at three such trenches which looked like meteor craters or imitations of Stonehenge.

Stung by a Wasp

We have our nephew from Nova Scotia visiting us here in Eastern Ontario. He has been hired to do renovations and other jobs. One of his jobs is to cut the grass which he completed yesterday. Just as he was finishing this job he was stung several times by a wasp. It is a type of ground wasp and very small, about 10 mm long, as pictured here. His reaction to the stings was quite remarkably minimal, like a mosquito bite. He did apply "Afterbite" immediately which must have helped.

The Ever Beautiful Flowers of the Highbush Cranberry

As with all other plants the highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) bloomed very early this year. These can be found throughout the woodlot and seem to have propagated quite naturally since they are randomly located. This is yet another white spring flower. An interesting note is that the ring of white petals are infertile flowers designed to attract insects onto less attractive fertile flowers in the centre.

Virgina Waterleaf under the Butternut Tree

The butternut tree nearest our house has a very interesting ground cover plant growing in its shade. After much searching I have been able to identify it as Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum). Like the Canada anemone it propagates by rhizomes and well as seed and is just as easily transplanted. It looks like another candidate for our natural landscaping plans. This is a picture of the ground-cover with an inset of the flower as seen under the butternut tree. This is a another white flower with a very slight purplish tinge.

Canada Anemone

It seems like it is time for the white flowers to all come out at the same time. Pictured here is the Canada Anemone (Anemone canadensis) a wild flower which grows on the road allowance adjacent and south east of Heartwood. It creates a nice ground cover and is apparently easy to transplant by moving a part of the rhizomatous root system. I might seriously consider making it part of the future landscaping plan around our house. The internet does warn however that it can be invasive  once allowed to flourish.

Tree planting Today

The Tree Planting Party

Picked up bare-root stock from the Ferguson Forest Centre in Kemptville. With the help of my daughter and grandson, we planted an interesting variety, including 10 each of nannyberry, sugar maple, scots pine, jack pine, birch, honey locust, and red cedar, as well as the 20 canker resistant butternuts supplied as part of the butternut recovery Program. The objective was to introduce more biodiversity to the tree stands. It was a great afternoon, with nice weather and a light breeze. 

Small Yellow Moth

During the summer months there is a frequent bright yellow visitor that flutters around in our front yard going from flower to flower. While moving our furniture to accommodate our Christmas Tree we found the remains of the moth that is pictured here. I never realized how difficult it can be to identify moths since there appears to be so many species and subspecies. Many are similar and yet not exactly the same. The closest moth that I was able to identify in this case was the False Crocus Geometer [Xanthotype urticaria]. The colour is similar however the shape of the wing looks more like a Pale Beauty [Campaea perlata] which is definitely a different colour being mainly white . Also the False Crocus Geometer has a more mottled yellow colour than this sample. So using my resources at hand this is as close as I have been able to come to identifying the moth. I think the next time I get a chance to shop for field identification books I might consider a book just on moths and butterflies.

Firefly Larvae are alive and doing well in Eastern Ontario

Last night I went to the garden to pull some fresh carrots and spotted the bio luminescent glow of this insect which until now, I always thought was a glowworm. I first found this insect here in 2004 and each fall thereafter. One fall they were so abundant and literally everywhere even throughout the forest. They were spread out no more than a metre (3 feet) apart.

I first thought that this was a glowworm but I bought a new book on Insects titled Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America ISBN-10:0-618-15310-1 and it clearly identifies this glowing insect as the larva of a firefly[Genus Photuris for sure and probably photuris pennsylvanica.] This makes total sense because we experience many fireflies in our fields in the evenings and all summer long it seems. The typical glowworm on the other hand has a real worm-like appearance. It is typically long and cylindrical and not at all like this insect.

Firefly larvae prey on snails which is a good thing. We have no shortage of them either.

Giant Water Bug

Arriving home this afternoon I noticed on the driveway near the back steps a Giant Water Bug [Lethocerus americanus]. It probably flew in since it ended up on its back - turned turtle - and was attempting to turn itself over while flailing away.

By the time I got back out it had righted itself and found itself a small puddle to rest in. This is the state that it was in when I took these photos. 20 minutes later he was gone and must have flown away. About 10 years ago we found the same bug on our drivway in the suburbs where we lived, in the west end of Ottawa. At that time we were much less well prepared, or interested, to identify it without the bug books I have now and the quality of internet resources.

This beetle will attack and prey on small fish, frogs and snakes as well as other bugs, and it will bite a person if irritated.

Burying Beetle

Yesterday I found a dead grey squirrel by the roadside. It was close to the roadway so I decided to move it into the ditch expecting in due course for a turkey vulture or crow to find it and clean it up. So I grabbed a stick and flung the carcass into the ditch and it uncovered a pair of unusual beetles. I didn't have a camera so couldn't take their pictures for better identification, and I am not inclined to kill them so was not able to identify them better that two black beetles with 4 orange spots. My Bugs of Ontario book identifies them as a species of Nicrophorus or burying beetles with interesting behaviours. Unusual for a beetle they actually pair up and take care of their young. Typically when they find a smaller carcass such as a mouse they will bury to hide it from competitors. This squirrel carcass was obviously far too big for these two 15 mm sized beetles and the roadside shoulder gravel was likely too hard to bury in.

Many Bees sighted in the Golden Rod

Goldenrod is now in full bloom and we have several patches of it in the abandoned field west of our house. One particular patch was very busy with what looked like the common honey bee [Apis mellifera]. This is probably the first time that I have definitively identified this bee on this woodlot -- I usually find bumble bees -- and the first time that I have seen so many, so active in one patch. This patch must have had one insect per plant, it was a busy place and time.

A Caterpillar eating a Milkweed Leaf

Today I did a visit and inspection of all the Canker resistant butternut trees in the woodlot. All but 2 are found and accounted for. Of the remaining 8, two are dead. The cause does not appear to be the disease but rather trampling by wildlife, or poor soil conditions. All will be reported on their respective blogs. On my way out I came across this very interesting looking caterpillar. I immediately associated it with the monarch butterfly which also eats milkweed, however it turns out that the monarch feeds on the milkweed when it is still young, and besides I have not seen any monarch butterflies around.

It turns out to be the Milkweed Tussock Caterpillar [Euchaetes egle], the caterpillar for the Tussock Moth a.k.a the Milkweed Tiger Moth. This caterpillar feeds on older milkweed plants and indeed this is approaching the end of our vigourous growing season.

Jewel Beetle or Metallic Wood Boring Beetle

While in Nova Scotia I spotted this motionless beetle on the ground. It appeared to resemble the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) so I put it in some alcohol and saved it until I was able to identify it with my library of wildlife books, or so I thought. Based on what little I know so far this beetle appeared to be much too large to be an EAB but I was curious none-the-less. Bugs of Ontario, by John Acorn and Ian Sheldon, ISBN 1-55105-287-3 most closely identified it with the Gold Dust Buprestid [Buprestis confluenta], although in the book the bug is much greener and much less metallic. The book states the length is 17 mm, and while comparing it with the dime in the photo I calculate this beetle to be 21 mm (13/16 in.) long. After further internet research it turns out that there are literaly 1000s of species of Buprestidae. There are many websites with pictures but none come close to identifying this bug. I so far have been able to confirm that the general term is either metallic wood-boring beetle or jewel beetle since they are known to be used to make jewelry particularly in southern countries. After digging further, and having subsequently found a copy of Field Guide to Insects of North America, Eric R. Eaton and Kenn Kaufman, ISBN 0-618-15310-7 -- that I must have bought recently since I didn't know I had it -- I was able to establish that it is very likely the Buprestis Lineata primarily by its shape and more even colouring. The book shows two variations one with gold strips which appears more common and one that is more evenly coloured like that photographed here.

Pictured above is a ruffed grouse [Bonasa umbellus] the only species of fowl-like birds that I know of that resides in our woodlot. They are particularly common in the low brush areas of our woodlot. Quite often as I go for my walks I will flush one out but rarely do I get a good glimpse of one. You can occaisionally hear the males drumming in the woods with the classic, foop foop foop foop furrrrrr. My wife was lucky to capture these photos today as the grouse casually walked across our lawn. They remain here yeararound.

Our resident and most common Snake

This is without a doubt the most common snake in this area since if I find a snake it is of this species. I did once come across a black snake with a red belly but never saw it again.

A Black and Yellow Spider

I encountered this black and yellow spider on the side of our house that seemed quite busy. It is one of the more attractive and interesting spiders I have seen. It most resembles the Yellow Garden Spider, [Agriope aurantia] as viewed in Bugs of Ont. ISBN 1-55105-287-3..