Shrub Removal: Gummi Berry (Elaeagnus multiflora)

This past week, we removed a long-time arboretum resident: one of our two Gummi Berry shrubs. One of the few intentionally-planted non-native species, these two specimens have been in the arboretum since 1997. That's nearly thirty years, older than most students on campus! When we covered these shrubs in 2019, both were healthy and prosperous. We last studied them in 2021, when they were providing some tasty treats to the Centenary squirrel population.

Entropy and time have worked together to compromise the health of one shrub. Ants and termites were present, chewing rotten wood and churning up the earth around the base of the shrub. Green leaves were still present, but three-quarters or more of the branches were bone-dry and naked. A colony of our small native black ants had taken up residence in its center. At this point, the main option presenting itself is removal.

Bare, brittle branches of the gummi berry (Elaeagnus multiflora) are pictured here. This shrub was planted as a pair, purchased from Mr. Sherwood Akin in 1997.

We see mostly dead branches, although there are a few green leaves.

During removal, the trunk of the shrub spontaneously split open, revealing plenty of rich dirt, termites, and ants where only healthy wood and roots should be.

The shrub has been converted into a large pile of branches, twigs, and poles.

Post-cleanup, only the small green sign remains, and it has since been moved over to the remaining shrub. 

We now have an opening in the landscape, and there are several months and two full seasons to think about what to plant here. 

 

Black Oak (Quercus velutina) Removal

It's time to retire another specimen from the arboretum, again due to disease and being crowded out by the more successful. A 30-year-old black oak (Quercus velutina) was cut down this past weekend, making more room for its partner tree, a southern red oak (Quercus falcata). On the blog, we saw them first in a post from 2012, as photographed by Bonnie Bernard. Then in 2019, showing both trees healthy.

 

In our last photos before removal, we see the much thinner, leaning black oak trunk and the large, straight southern red oak trunk. Each tree has a sign near the base of the trunk, hopefully helping visitors understand that they are in fact looking at two separate trees―not a tree with two trunks. These two have served as a marvelous example of what competition can look like among trees.

The black oak was intentionally planted with care in 1996. Some time later, the southern red oak volunteered in the same spot and was allowed to grow. Over the years, the red oak has squeezed (strangled?) the black oak out of this location. Earlier this year the black oak finally gave up the fight―it dropped its foliage and the trunk quickly showed signs of deterioration.

On the trunk, just before its removal, we see obvious signs of decay, including bugs scurrying across the pitted, fungal bark. It could remain standing for years before falling in an ice storm or windy weather event. The major reason for removal is unsightliness, followed closely by health risks to the partner-tree. The southern red oak has grown into a very handsome tree.

With the black oak trunk on the ground, we see one long straight trunk with very few branches.

A small brush pile was made from the sparse branches. We broke up the trunk and removed it. Despite some rotting, especially around the bark, most of the trunk wood was solid and hard.

The fall landscape is altered with the removal of the black oak. Note: it's mid-December, and some of our maples are still changing colors; the chalk maples (Acer leucoderme) on the slope are turning yellow-orange and a red maple (Acer rubrum) in the background is a bright red-orange, even on such a cloudy day.

Ideally we want to remove this stump. It's like a dead tooth which provides a disease reservoir for the gums in which it sits. But this stump cannot be easily removed from the healthy trunk of the neighbor which has eclipsed and ultimately killed it.

We will leave the sign in place for a little while, to remind us of the spirited competition and also to remind us to check on the decaying process. Will the southern red oak trunk grow to completely encapsulate the decaying trunk, leaving no sign of the black oak's existence?

Tree Removal: Pawpaw, Sweetgum, Mulberry

Today we continued normal cleanup operations in the Arboretum. This customarily involves cleaning up the paths, picking up fallen limbs, moving gravel around, and today a special task: cutting down some trees and removing stumps.

First, a water leak in the arboretum, down the slope from Mickle Hall, required a lot of dirt work. This area is in shambles, but there is really no alternative. Our native clay can be quite an adversary. Don't try to walk through this area; just go around.

Onto the main tasks.... Here is a sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) stump, which you can see on an earlier blogpost here. In that post we said "Now all that remains is a two-foot stump which will be removed at a later date." That day has arrived.

Resprouting, this tree is still alive. This photo was taken after all of the new growth was trimmed.

Afterwards, we have a more-or-less flat area that will not be a tripping hazard. The roots were not removed, which means that we have not yet seen the end of sweetgum shoots.

Next we have a highly suspect pawpaw (Asimina triloba), which you can read more about on an earlier blog post, here. This tree has had a broken crown for nearly a decade, which may have led to some health problems. Recently it has taken a turn for the worst, so now we must make an assessment. Before we cut the tree down, let's inspect the specimen to determine its condition.

 

The bare pawpaw trunk is pictured center. Louisiana palmettos and titi shrubs are in the background.

This image becomes more unsettling the longer you look at it. Here you can see fungal pink slime oozing from the bark and forming bubbles. What on earth is this?

This rotten branch nub was characteristic of the whole tree.

Scoring thin bark will often reveal healthy green cambium underneath. Scoring this pawpaw revealed dead tissue and only excited the ants and other bugs crawling across it. Snapping a few twigs, which should have been green and springy, verified that this tree is completely dead. Cutting it down released a horrendous mushroom-like smell.

All gone, and only a few blog posts to tell the tale.

This cross section reveals a rotten tree. It may not be immediately obvious from this photo, but the inner rings of the tree were sickly green and oozed.

The lower feet of the trunk served as a nursery for untold billions of fungal spores and the entire surface of the bark had turned green. The white specks were tubular filaments rising off the surface of the bark and ending in a nodule.

Finally, this undesirable specimen is a hybrid of Morus rubra, the red mulberry, and an Asian species. Since we want to preserve native species, we will remove this one as we have removed other white-berried and black-berried mulberries in the arboretum.

We see leaves of the characteristically variable Morus genus.

Our mulberry hybrid was dissassembled.

This area is already a major tripping hazard due to holes and uneven ground, so we've sawed the stump down as low as possible. Cutting around soil will quickly dull your chainsaw blade, but there's no helping it.

Autumn is a great time of the year for these kinds of clean-up operations. Look around and you'll find plenty of work to do!

Tree Removal: Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

Yesterday, we removed the arboretum's only remaining sweetgum. This is unfortunate, but necessary, as the tree was doomed by two unfortunate circumstances. Back in 2021, we resolved to remove this tree and its day has come.

The base of the sweetgum trunk is pictured on the left side of the photograph. This photo exhibits the extreme lean of the trunk. As the tree ages and the trunk grows larger, the chance of breakage and a dangerous incident only becomes greater.

This photo shows where, several years ago, bark had been peeled off by desperate squirrels. This damage would one day leave the tree vulnerable to disease and weather. Along with its lean, this means the tree will never be a safe, healthy adult specimen.

First we cut out the upper branches.

Even a small tree like this creates a large pile of branches.

Now all that remains is a two-foot stump which will be removed at a later date.

Although we do not have an official sweetgum in the arboretum catalogue, volunteers can be seen on the grounds of the arboretum. Interestingly, there are at minimum two young sweetgums growing in proximity to the remaining stump. So, we will see how these little trees grow this spring and summer, and perhaps one will be a suitable addition to the catalogue. Also, the arboretum curator germinated sweetgum seeds collected from Maydelle, Texas; these individuals are expected to enter the catalogue next year, after they grow a little taller.

Tree Removal: Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)

For nearly five years the arboretum has been plagued by a fungal epidemic: cedar-apple rust. The wild crabapple, mayhaws, and several different hawthorns have suffered from this fungus, which depends on the eastern red cedar for its lifecycle. At first, in 2018, we treated the mayhaws with an anti-fungal spray. This labor intensive job resulted in no noticeable effect: the following spring, the mayhaws were still thoroughly infected with the fungus, potentially threatening their longevity.

The next step was to remove an eastern red cedar, which was both growing in proximity to the mayhaws and exceptionally ornamented with the developing fungal galls. The decision to cut down a healthy tree was not easy; its removal occurred in April 2021. You can read about the process here. Within a year of its removal, there was a noticeable improvement in the arboretum's lone wild crabapple. While the mayhaws were still infected with the fungus, their overall health improved. 

Then, in 2022, one of the parsley hawthorns showed signs of a terrible infection. The remaining eastern red cedars were examined, and two cedars were shown to be harboring the fungal galls. They were removed in late 2022. 

Two eastern red cedars remain, and today one is on the chopping block. Galls were discovered on this cedar last winter, and over the summer the hawthorns growing on the grass slope near Cline Hall looked pitiful from the rust. So, with the aim of eliminating the cedar-apple rust in the arboretum, we are removing yet another eastern red cedar. 

An established, volunteer eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is pictured center. This is one of our two remaining eastern red cedars. Its age isn't documented, but we know with certainty that this individual germinated here prior to 2012. It's a happy tree, doing well in this area, although it would be larger and stouter with more sunlight. A mature white oak (Quercus alba) looms above it.

Due to the existence of cedar-apple rust galls developing in its canopy, this eastern red cedar was marked for removal. Today, the process began. The first step was to climb the tree and cut off as many branches as possible. This will make the tree less messy when it is taken down.

These are the removed branches. A few of them carry the developing cedar-apple rust galls, currently hard and dry.

The trunk and remaining branches will come down this weekend. Then there will be one remaining eastern red cedar in the arboretum catalogue, which can be found in the Mickle Hall parking lot. You can read about it on an older blog post, found here. As of right now, that cedar does not have any visible galls. It, however, suffers from being confined to a small growing space, so it too will most likely have to be removed for poor health. The fate of the eastern red cedars in the arboretum is unfortunate, but this tree is very common in our area and can be enjoyed elsewhere. We have many important species in the arboretum to look after, and this one was simply too dangerous to its neighbors.

Tree Removal: Chittamwood (Bumelia lanuginosa)

 

During the last week of April, we lost a mature chittamwood (Bumelia lanuginosa), approximately 28 years of age. Falling over, the tree uprooted itself and obstructed a concrete walkway. Perhaps stormy, windy weather contributed to its unfortunate end; however, we must note that this chittamwood lacked a straight, upward habit―there was a significant lean in its trunk, and it fell in the direction that it was leaning. You can see older pictures of this individual here.

The chittamwood stump and its sign remain. You can find the stump on the southern edge of the arboretum, near the Fitness Center, at the bottom of a gradual slope. At times this can be a very wet location. Interestingly, this chittamwood was one of a pair donated by Jack Price, collected from his property near Blanchard. The two trees were planted on opposite sides of the sidewalk. Six years ago, the first tree fell over and was removed.

When the second chittamwood fell over, it uprooted, raising the ground. After most of the weight was removed from the trunk, the earth fell back into place, leaving a raised mound.

The tree stump measures more than a foot across. Stop by to examine the texture and irregular tree ring pattern.

Tree Removal: Box Elder Maple (Acer negundo)

 

This week we say goodbye to a box elder maple (Acer negundo). We do not know the age of this tree. It was a volunteer, and when it entered the catalogue, an approximate age was not given.

 

This tree has been tagged for removal since spring 2020, after it suffered significant storm damage. You can read about it and see pictures of the storm damage here. In the above photo, we see a thick, straight trunk and dense foliage up top. It's clearly alive.

Up close and personal, it's truly awful.

Here we see fungal growth, mold, missing bark, and insect damage.

This is extensive, running across half the circumference.

At about four feet up the trunk, the tree had a circumference of 30 inches.

The first step in removal is to take off lower branches.

Then the crown and all the other branches were removed, leaving only the trunk.

The trunk was taken down in one piece.

There was an entire ant civilization living in the caverns of this tree, fifteen feet off the ground. Luckily they could only bite and not sting with venom.

After stump removal, there's not much evidence of this tree's relatively short life. Its memory will be preserved on this blog and our records.