April 2024 Treecologist Tribune

A month ago I was worried that the North Carolina summer heat was in full effect. But luckily we had a series of days with cooler weather and some rain. Overall, the past month has been quite pleasant, which is great for emerging plant life! Rainfall totals measure just over 3 inches across five main events. We could certainly use more “April showers” to boost “May flowers,” and we could also use more healthy soil to hold that water in place. For all the reasons we have discussed in past months, a lack of water availability will continue to be a growing issue in the future.

The big news regarding spring pest emergence is the continued presence of Crape Myrtle Bark Scale (CMBS) and Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), which are both invasive pests. An invasive pest is one that originates from a different ecosystem and has few/no predators to keep its populations under control within this new ecosystem. EAB continues to spread and destroy populations of native ash trees. The best, least-damaging way to stop this invasive pest is using trunk injections that last for two years. We have found that the cost to remove a tree is typically the same amount of money required to protect the tree for 20 years. Hopefully by then we will have found more permanent solutions for stopping EAB.

Regarding CMBS, early research suggested that the only way to stop this invasive pest was by using harmful chemicals (neonicotinoids). We have refused to use those products because they cause widespread harm to other life in in the canopy, pollinators that visit the flowers, and microorganisms within the root ecosystem. Over the past two growing seasons, we have found that we are able to obtain reasonable control over this pest through the use of horticultural and growth regulators, which are far less damaging. This is great news indeed!

Next, I want to answer some questions that you all have sent me. (I love answering your questions; please keep sending them!)

Linda asks “How about a post on how to create a habitat to attract and keep lizards around our homes? We get so excited when we see one outdoors, but I have no idea what would entice it to take up residence and invite its family members to visit.” Stacey writes “The suggestion for a topic might be addressing the culture of viewing organic litter as trash, waste, and a mess needing to be cleaned up or destroyed. This is the culture in my neighborhood and it breaks my heart.” Jennifer asks “I would love to know more about what plants/flowers are good for butterflies, dragonflies and bees. And maybe also hummingbirds. Can anything help attract lightning bugs, attract turtles and frogs etc.?”

All three flow in the same vein: Many of the things we do on our properties actually make it harder for other life to live in our yards. Standard practices and paradigms tell us we should remove leaves, branches, dead plants, etc. Yet many of these are exactly what other types of life need to survive. If we provide food and shelter, life will come. Here are some practical tips for attracting lizards, dragonflies, butterflies, etc.

• Keep all branches and twigs in a brush pile somewhere on your property. Brush piles provide homes for all sorts of insects, salamanders, lizards, turtles, and others.
• Keep a pile of logs and chunks of wood somewhere on your property. This is yet another ecosystem for life like beetles, frogs, and chipmunks. Fireflies especially love rotting logs.
• Compost all grass clippings, food scraps, and so forth. A compost pile is another ecosystem with yet more life. As a bonus, we can use the compost to feed our plants.
• Leave dead flower stems until the new flowers begin growing. This gives the various bees and other insects that live in these stems during the dormant season time to emerge and re-enter life.
• If possible, provide a source of water on your property. You can buy bubblers and other systems. Or you can dig out an area to hold water in place long after the rain passes.
• Leave all leaves where they lay–in beds, natural areas, or a pile somewhere on the property. Many species of moths, butterflies, and native bees need leaves to survive.
• Plant native understory trees and shrubs under larger trees. More species of plants and plant layers mean a greater variety and abundance of life can live in these spaces.
• Plant native flowers and grasses (any species is fine so long as they are native) in any unused space on your property that receives at least 5 hours of sunlight. These provide more ecosystems for more variety of life. Planting areas from seed is easier to manage than pulling weeds from around individual plants.

In short, anything that broadens ecosystem variety, adds photosynthesis via native plants, and hoards carbon is likely to produce ideal results for most life. I should add that if we are going to take these steps, we should also avoid causing harm. Examples include:

• Avoid the use of damaging pesticides, miticides, fungicides, etc., since they will harm life.
• This most definitely applies to mosquito sprays–they kill life in spades (plus they don’t actually work). Avoid them completely.
• Turn off lights at night.
• Keep cats inside always. (The bell collars do not prevent them from killing birds.)
• Remove invasive plants since they damage ecosystems and reduce their complexity, thus reducing the complexity and abundance of life.

If you want to learn more, we go into great detail on these topics in our new book, From Wasteland to Wonder. You can pre-order it if you are interested. Once the pre-order period ends on April 30, we’ll begin sending out books.

Next month, we’ll chat about ways to keep trees safe during hurricanes. (Spoiler: It’s structural pruning and tree inspections.)