Dwarf Mistletoe

[Randall]

I've got some western larch with dwarf mistletoe that I'm planning to cut along with other trees to make one or two loads in a month or two. There are many small larch around these trees up to 2" dia.. Should I cut the big larch right now and loose their value to keep the small trees from getting infected or are they probably already infected and it makes no difference?

[SwampDonkey]

hmm, that's a loaded question as I can't see the branches and tree boles :D ;) . Are larch all that valueable in your area?  This document says that understory host trees are continually exposed to the mistle-toe seeds and the most succeptable stands have multiple size classes. They suggest a complete harvest of the infested stand as the parasite dies in dead slash. You can find out more info by retrieving the PDF document below.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/nr/fid/fidls/hemlock-dm.pdf.

[Tillaway]

That is kind of a tough question, is the infection active?  I have seen stands with damage from old infections but the understory coming back is free of it.  That or in some areas it is nearly impossible to eradicate so most people just deal with it by removing any that have an active infestation.

[Randall]

Thanks for the link. It looks like I can wait a month or three to cut the big trees but I guess I should also cut a lot of the small stuff.   :-/   :(   Over here larch and douglas fir are some of the most valueable.

[SwampDonkey]

I didn't know you had the right climate in Idaho for Doug. fir, interesting.

[Tillaway]

They even have Red Cedar.. go figure.

[SwampDonkey]

Well I guess there is interior Doug fir and interior red cedar. Maybe they are quite hardy. I know the coastal red cedar would never survive as they don't grow above 400 m ASL along the coast mountains. They have found Doug. Fir in sheltered coves along the coast mountains as far north as Stewart BC, only in recent years. I know they grow Doug. fir in New Zealand, but thier climate is the same as the Pacific NorthWest.

[Randall]

I'm in North Idaho at 2400'. We've got lots of Larch, Doug. Fir, Red Cedar, Grand Fir, White Pine, Lodgepole Pine, Ponderosa Pine and Hemlock.  

[SwampDonkey]

Randall:

Your western red cedar must be the interior progeny, I have seen them in the plateau around Prince George , BC. I don't know the elevation there, but the climate is drier and colder than on the coast. Apparently, the interior Doug. fir occurs on dry sites in the BC lower mainland from Williams Lake to Cranbrook on the rift of the Rockies. I know the species has been taken to Europe for propogation, by the Scotish bontonist David Douglas himself . I've never heard of any successful plantings of Doug. Fir outside of BC in Canada. I heard they tried it in Nova Scotia, but it wasn't very frost hardy and does not get the height. I know the prairie provinces are high in elevation also. When you travel from Calgary for instance, toward the Rockies, she's all down hill, which was odd for me. Travelling from Ontario to Alberta it was all gradually uphill. I'm glad you folks in North Dakota have had success with those two species. Most interesting.

[Randall]

North Idaho

[ID4ster]

If I'm not mistaken dwarf mistletoe doesn't send out its seed until late summer or fall and if its done that then the understory larch is probably already infected. If you look at your larch repro closely you may already see the swollen limbs or branches that indicate infection. Since the only way to get rid of the mistletoe is to kill the host you'll have to kill the overstory trees and the infected understory trees. What I would recommend is to wait and see if the overstory larch are putting out cones this year. If they are then I'd wait until the seed is ripe and before the cones open to harvest the trees. That way you can collect the seed cones and either use them for regeneration on your property or sell them to one of the nurseries in the area. Larch seed cones are pretty valuable so you won't have any problem selling  them as long as you have handled them properly. If your understory larch is severely infected with MT then you'll have to kill it off but hopefully that is not the case. If you have to replace the stand I'd recommend white pine since it would not be affected by larch MT, there is plenty of blister rust resistant stock available, and DF tends to be very suceptible to root rot up in your section of the state. Come on down to the Idaho/Washington Forest Owners field day on June 26th and Ladd Livingston, the state IDL forest disease expert will be there and you can put this question to him. All in all I wouldn't get in a hurry to cut those trees until later on this year.  

[SwampDonkey]

ID4ster:

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for the good info for us all. I'm sure Randall will appreciate it since your from his state and a forester ta boot.

[Randall]

Thanks for the info. ID4ster and I'm going to try to make it down to the field day. I'm in Sandpoint.