Friday, May 16, 2008

Tree Care

We have two very large trees in our backyard. One is a beautiful red maple that is the tallest tree on our block. A few years ago we tapped the tree for its sap and made maple syrup. The other tree is a yellow maple, which used to house our children tree fort. Two years ago we pulled down the tree fort due to age and planned to build a new fort this summer. Last week when hanging laundry on the clothes line, I noticed a lot of saw dust at the bottom of the tree. My husband had spent the week cutting up fallen branches, so I didn't think any more about the saw dust.

Today, I noticed more saw dust. I have a very large tree infested with termites or carpenter ants. I haven't located any insects yet, but realize that we need to do something quickly. I don't have the money to have a tree surgeon come over and take care of the problem. We're having a house full of guests this weekend for our son's confirmation, so the tree will need to wait until next week.

I need to do more research on how to handle the situation, but I'll probably start with cutting off dead/dying branches and be environmentally unfriendly by spraying with pesticides. My husband just took another job to work 7 days/week and earn more money, so I will need to handle this job alone. I really didn't need the added large job.

1 comment:

Glenda said...

Hope you had a nice day with all your family and friends. Good luck with the tree!