Follow up Inspection of Canker Resistant Butternuts

There was some unfinished business to attend to. Some of the trees still had to be tagged and I found that some of the geographic coordinates were inaccurate.

Also I found tree number seven so this means we have a 9 out of 10 survival rate.

I will be updating each of the individual tree blogs.

I also found additional butternut trees for which I will be creating individual blogs as well. It is becoming apparent that I will have quite a time tracking all the blogs.

How to conveniently label trees

To uniquely label special and noteworthy trees in the woodlot and to track them with a blog they need to be labeled. The label has to be durable enough to last many years. I thought that a plastic square cut from a Javex bleach bottle, or joghurt tub might do. After all these plastic bottles are known to last for up to 30 years in a landfill. The identification information would then be marked on it with an indelible marker. I noticed however that the permanent markers will fade completely when exposed to the sun after only one season. So instead I found the aluminum cat food can lid quite suitable and there is a plentiful supply. Using a punch set - bought from Princess Auto and hoping one day to find a use for it - I could punch the tree code on the lid. I could then tie this to the tree trunk while it is still small with a bit of wire or screw it into the trunk when it is larger. Aluminum corrodes very slowly and will last much longer than 30 years and more like 50 years.

Survey of Canker Resistant Butternut Trees

I visited six of the butternut trees today, took measurements, and tagged them.
Of the trees all survived the summer except: Tree #3 was uprooted and Tree #7 was not found today but may still be healthy and alive.
I still have to measure and report on trees #1 & 2.
For the remaining healthy and measured trees I have created blogs as follows:
http://crb4c.blogspot.com/
http://crb5c.blogspot.com/
http://crb6c.blogspot.com/
http://crb8g.blogspot.com/
http://crb9g.blogspot.com/
http://crb10g.blogspot.com/

Visit these sites to view photographs, geographic coordinates or pictures of the subject trees.
Not all photographs are posted yet.

New Blog for Butternut Tree CRB1I

This is the first of the butternut trees that are confirmed to have survived the planting and the summer. The code CRB1I for numbering tree means Canker Resistant Butternut #1 in Area I of our woodlot. Click on title to see the blog.

George and Sean Planted the Black Walnut

The Walnut tree has survived the trip to Campbellton. In this picture, see link, my Grandson Sean and Father-in-law /good friend George are planting the tree.

More about the Black Walnut

At the end of the woodlot tour on Lalandes property, which was held on October 14th, 2006, one of the members was giving away walnuts that he collected from a tree on his property. He gave use about 50 walnuts, which I planned to plant here at Heartwood.

In the mean time we had the nuts stored in a basket outside, and by the time we were ready for planting on December 24th 2006 -- it was a very mild fall -- the squirrels had raided the basket and left us with 36.

We laid out a 6 metre by 6 metre grid and planted the nuts at each one metre intersection. The ground was very soft and wet so to plant them we simply pushed the nut into the ground with the heel of our boots.

Next spring 7 of the nuts sprouted. I cut squares out of old carpet and cut a slit from the middle out and placed the carpets around the nuts that survived. This was to control the weeds around them which worked very well.

The following year we had 14. Yay! seven more nuts sprouted. So what are we going to do with them all?

The previous trees did not do so well and were late putting out leaves. From this website I see now that it might be the high moisture that has delayed the trees. We have had a record number of rainy days this year in this area.

The referenced website also describes the process for transplanting walnuts. It appears that the nut produces a large tap root, so one can not wait too long to transplant them. They should be less than one metre (3 feet) tall. I might have another year yet since these seedlings are only about half a metre (16in.) tall.

This weekend I potted one of the walnuts as a gift for my father in-law who lives in northern New Brunswick. Some members of my family were going up to see him and took it with them. It is much colder up there and the winters are much longer. We are already at the northern edge of the Walnut habitat. I wonder how it will do.

Regarding Walnut and Butternut Toxicity

There is an excellent article provided by the Purdue University on this subject at: http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/HO/HO-193.pdf

Canker Resistant Butternut Tree Planting

As part of the Butternut Recovery Program, I accepted delivery and planted 10 butternut trees that are selected as being resistant to the butternut Canker. These were planted today. I will report on them again near the end of summer.

RIDEAU VALLEY FLOOD WARNING UPDATE

This Warning affects our area and is a result of the exceptional amout of snow we received this winter.

Local rivers and streams in the Rideau Valley peaked overnight; however, today’s precipitation will extend the peak flows over the next 24 to 36 hours. If most of the precipitation falls as expected by midnight Friday, water level could increase again, rising as much as another 15 to 25 centimetres (6 to 10 inches) above current water levels in flood vulnerable areas.

Thursday night’s peak was close to “1 in 5 year” spring flood levels — which means there is a 20% chance, each and every spring, of these conditions being reached or exceeded as a result of snowmelt and rainfall runoff.

High water conditions can be expected to persist for several days.

The snow cover is largely, but not yet entirely, gone from open areas. Forested areas of the watershed continue to hold snow.

Environment Canada weather forecasters advise that up to 20 mm of mixed precipitation can be expected in our region over the next 48 hours, most of it falling between noon and midnight today.

This Flood Warning will be terminated when rivers and streams have crested and there is no significant rainfall in the short-term.

A walk ON the snow

This is a record year for snow. According to the weather channel, we are around 35 cm. (~14 in.) short of reaching the record of the winter of 1970-1971 which was 444 cm. (~14.5 ft.) Trudging through the bush has been quite a work out even on snowshoes. About a week later we had some heavy thawing followed by a freeze so the snow has become rock solid, though still not solid enough to walk on. The boots still go down a good 50 cm into the snow. But on snowshoes it is like walking on solid ground.

Being so high – I would say about a metre ( 3 feet) above the ground, the paths are virtually not recognizable. What one was able to walk under at ground level when there is no snow is now a mere crawl space. But on the plus side I can walk right over much of the brush.

One would suspect that the deep snow would be hard on wildlife as it tries to forage for food. Indeed there were no deer tracks to be found so the deer that have survived have likely moved to their “deer yards” – protected areas where the deer keep paths open and where there may be some food. When desperate enough, deer are known to eat cedar and there is lots of cedar in this area.

The snowshoe hare seems to be doing ok, as there were a number of their tracks to be found. Also there are very many fisher tracks. There were no coyote tracks. I was advised that a neighbour has been shooting them.

In this morning’s walk I found a new butternut tree in the woodlot which I will add to my database. I have walked by it before but never identified it. It must look different when one is standing a metre off the ground.

Butternut Blogs

In this area, butternut trees are becoming endangered due to a fungus that is killing off many of our trees. There is considerable interest now to find and track butternut trees that exhibit a resistance to this disease. Just under 20 butternut trees have been identified on this property and there are likely a few more. To enable the tracking of the progress of individual trees, I intend to create a blog for each individual butternut tree that I am aware of in this woodlot. I will identify each tree by a code. The code will start with a letter which denotes the area or zone in the woodlot management plan and then number the trees in the order that they are found. For each tree I will attempt to post a picture of that tree at least once a year. I will also from time to time take a measurement of the tree being the height and the DBH diameter. I will pay particular attention to scars on the tree or any signs of disease.

A Visit from a Cottontail

Being the early bird or morning lark, just after I get up, I often will take a quick look through the windows outside in the dark before I turn the lights on and consequently scare off any wildlife that may have ventured near the house. For the last couple of mornings I have witnessed a small bunny eating the cracked corn that I have spread out on top of the snow near the bird feeder. This is likely an eastern cottontail [Sylvilagus floridanus] the only wild rabbit common to this area. The only other similar species here is the ever common snowshoe hare [Lepus americanus] which is technically a hare, not a rabbit. The snowshoe however in winter changes to a white coat thus clearly distinguishing it from the cottontail at this time of year.

Velvetleaf

Velvetleaf

Sometimes weeds can be more curious and interesting that flower gardens. For example this fall we found this very interesting metre and a half tall plant which we later identified as Indian Mallow [Abuliton theophrasti]. “Ontario Weeds” ISBN 0-7729-9691-1 identifies this plant as Velvet Leaf. There are also many other names including Abuth, abuliton, Butter-print, Elephant ear, Pie Maker, abuliton feuille de velours.

It does not have an attractive flower but the seed pods are quite unique.

It appears that in some areas this plant is considered a very invasive weed according to http://www.al.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/velvetlf2.htm . The site states that the seeds can last dormant for up to 50 years. According to http://www.lib.ksu.edu/wildflower/velvetleaf.html this plant was introduced to North America two centuries ago – late 1700s, early 1800s. Since the plant actually sprouted on land that has not been tilled or disturbed for some 40 years I suppose it is possible that the seed has laid dormant for all those years, like the goosefoot that I posted about earlier.

New Brunswick Trespassing Rules

Since the last post I have found the trespassing rules for the Province of New Brunswick (NB). There are interesting similarities and yet complete contradictions to the Ontario Rules.

New Brunswick similarly uses the red and yellow discs but the description is not as specific about the disc dimensions. Instead it describes yellow or red discs or painted bands around the trees and posts.

In NB, the posted red disk or painted red bands around trees or posts means no shooting, hunting or trapping is allowed, not even for the owner, which strikes me a a bit odd. In Ontario the red disc implies no trespassing and thus no hunting or any activity of any kind and this does not apply to the owner.

A description of the New Brunswick Rules can be found at http://www.legal-info-legale.nb.ca/showpub.asp?id=4

The 10 cm. (4 inch) Red Dot

If you drive the Ontario country side, especially near forests you will from time to time see a red circle painted on a tree, rock or fence post. I had been told that the symbol meant “no trespassing”. If you seek out the origin of this custom on the web there is very little information about the custom.

In time I found this custom well described in the Ontario Hunting Regulations for example in
Hunting Regulations 2007 • 2008, ISSN 0882-1936 under General Regulations on page 25 is the following text and I quote:

A person is trespassing if the person enters onto property
or carries out an activity on property that the owner has given
notice is not allowed. Commonly the owner may give this
notice to the general public by having a fence, sign, symbol or
by verbally telling someone.
A hunting licence does not give hunters the right to enter
private property.
ALWAYS ask for permission and obey signs. Signs may be in
three formats:
• Red or yellow markings of such a size that a circle of
10 cm (4 inches) can be contained wholly within them.
Red means no entry is permitted. Yellow markings mean no
entry is permitted except for activities that may be allowed.
• Graphic representation of a permitted or prohibited activity.
• A written sign.
If it is not evident what activities are allowed, ask for permission
from the landowner. Not all land is signed. Unsigned
lands may be private land as well. (If property is fenced, no
access is permitted without permission of the landowner.) It is
your responsibility to find out who owns the land you wish to
hunt on and obtain permission. If unsure, stay out. Positive
landowner/hunter relationships are important to the
future of hunting in Ontario.
Be sure you are familiar with the Occupiers’ Liability Act and
the Trespass to Property Act before entering private land. (You
may obtain these two acts from Publications Ontario or online
at www.e-laws.gov.on.ca). You will also be violating the Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Act if the landowner asks you to
leave and you do not do so immediately, or if you do not obey
signs prohibiting trespassing, hunting or fishing.

 

We know of very little incidence of trespassing on our woodlot, and based on the above, it seems that a fence will suffice and there is no need to “Post” red circles.
Interestingly this regulation is quite well described for Ontario. If one were to look at regulations in other provinces such as New Brunswick or Nova Scotia one will find the regulations have a different meaning not nearly as clear and explicit. New Brunswick rules are described in a later post. 



This information can also be found on:
. http://publicdocs.mnr.gov.on.ca/View.asp?Document_ID=10734&Attachment_ID=20631

Goosefoot

Earlier this summer in June, we had some excavation done on our property. This activity disturbed areas which have been untouched for many decades. In particular this was around an old collapsed horse barn. Subsequently weeds appeared which were entirely unfamiliar to me. One is what I believe is Maple Leafed Goosefoot [Chenopodium gigantospermum] as pictured here. I am not entirely certain of its identification although I can not find any literature that provides me with a better I.D. to prove the contrary. Could it be that the seeds remained dormant for so many years? The infestation as the pictures will attest was intense, and very unusual. I can not think of any other way that the seeds were introduced here. It was limited to one particular area so was not likely brought in on the equipment.

Chicken in the Woods

About two weeks ago I was returning to the habit of doing regular patrols of the forest. The leaves are starting to dry up so you can see quite a bit more through the underbrush. Also all bird nests will be abandoned by now so one is less likely to disturb them. During that first walk I came across this very showy fungus growing on the base of a butternut tree. Unfortunately a fungus on a tree is a bad sign for the tree, likely meaning that the inside core of the tree is rotting. This fungus resembled most closely the “Chicken in the woods” [Laetiporous sulphureus] and is supposedly quite common according to Mushrooms of Ontario and Eastern Canada, ISBN 1-55105-199-0. I found it to be an interesting sight none-the-less.

Adding some photos

I have updated some old posts by adding pictures that have been waiting to be released. Last week after enduring 7 years of slow speed dial up internet connection out here in the rhubarb, we are connected to a radio based high speed connection.
The service is transmitted from a several hundred metre high antenna located about 4 kilometres south of Kemptville Ontario. It will be so much easier now to update blog postings.

Black and Blue moth with an Orange Head on a Blue Flower

After living several decades in the “burbs”, one tends to lose touch with, and at the same time become more aware of the huge diversity of plants and insects that exists in the country side. At our previous home in the Ottawa suburbs, we were exposed to a very limited variety of insects, including mainly ants and flies, wasps, some bees and the odd butterfly, crickets and very few mosquitoes. I would think that pesticides had a role to play in that, after all that is what they were intended for, were they not? Today I came across this orange-headed black moth with an iridescent blue body. With the wings closed it looks like an iridescent blue patch draped on its shoulders. When we first moved here we found many of these moths in our house as we were building. According to “Bugs of Ontario” ISBN 1-55105-287-3, this is a Virgninia Ctenucha [Ctenucha virginica].

Today I found several of these moths feeding on flowers of this blue plant called blueweed, [Echium vulgare L.]. According to “Weeds of Canada” ISBN 0-88864-311-X, this was introduced from North Africa as a garden plant. It was used as an antidote for snake bites. The moth was feeding off the flower nectar as were a number of bumble bees.

This plant along with a number of other unusual weeds emerged on the weeping bed of our septic system where topsoil was brought in, hence the likely seed source of this plant. It doesn’t occur anywhere else on the property.

Back in the Saddle

The centennial celebration went well and is all behind now. I will now catch up on posts on this blog. The event was quite successful, with some 800 participants. I have been taking pictures all the while and will catch up on past observations at the woodlot.

Bye for now.