lost leader on Austrian pine

16 years ago

A bad ice storm here last winter took out several feet of the leader and some major branches on a 30-year-old, 30-foot-tall Scotch pine in our yard. This month's ice storms have broken off a few more major branches.

My husband maintains that this poor grotesque tree can recover and be acceptably attractive in time. I think we won't live long enough to see that happen! And since most of the Scotches in our neighborhood are dying off anyway (from that common beetle/disease combo), I think we ought to get busy with a new tree and meanwhile have some fast-burning fireplace logs.

Could someone please tell me which one of us is nuts? I need it in writing so the nuts one can see it live and in living black and white.

Thank you!

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Comments (11)

pineresin
16 years ago
Spellcheck: Scots Pine.

I'd agree, the stress of broken branches will be a magnet to the beetles that spread pine wilt disease, so prospects for survival are low. Best get a replacement in now.

Resin

Here is a link that might be useful: Pine Wilt - Kansas State U Factsheet
dcsteg
16 years ago
If the ice storms have destroyed this Scots Pine appearance to the point where it is not attractive, along with the beetle infestation it is going to eventually have to contend with, why deal with it.

There are plenty of alternatives out there to take the place of this unfortunate conifer. Tell your husband to deal with it.

Dave
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there is a conifer forum.. should you wish to be enabled.. otherwise.. they are also trees ... the leader should never brown ... but w/o a pic .. i dont know if you means its brown and dead.. or just some scorch due to transplant issues. ... ALL pine.. will put up 2 or 3 new leaders.. should this one die ... in a year or two.. you would remove extra.. to favor one ... but to be clear.. there are buds at the tip.. that is the future .. if the leader browns .. and dies .. including those buds .. there are no dormant buds.. and a new leader will have to be trained up ... actually.. as i said the tree will do it itself ... but we are talking years.. not weeks.. think like a tree i have had pines.. lose every single needle in a bad winter.. only to properly bud out in spring.. and proceed with life.. with little or no long term damage ... they are not.. given proper water on transplant.. what i would call foo foo or exotic ... pix???? ken
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conifers
16 years ago
Plant a Dawn Redwood. A fast solution and a beautiful deciduous conifer. You won't even care that it's deciduous.

Dax
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
16 years ago
i don't think we can answer which one of you are nuts .... lol ...

pine should NOT be burned in a fireplace .... unless you clean you flue religiously .. the resin sticks inside and can be a source of flue fires.. as far as i know..

they make much better patio or burn pile firewood...

ken
gailz
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks to all of you for your responses. That tree--despite my subject line, it is a Scotch (yeah, I see that spell-check wants Scots, but Pirone and local usage dictate Scotch)--is not long for this world. And I'll take the burning advice to heart--maybe I'll have lots of stepping "stones" instead.

gz
pineresin
16 years ago
Pirone is wrong; in this context, 'scotch' to 'scots' is comparable to 'nigger' to 'african' - very offensive to people in Scotland, and should not be used

Resin
panserbjorn
16 years ago
RE 'scotch' to 'scots' is comparable to 'ni****' to 'african'

Are you sure thats not an overstatement? One is a degradation imposed by a population that kidnapped and enslaved a population for a few hundred years and the other is an insensitive misstep, that doesnt really have a hateful connotation.

I've never been to the UK but calling an african american a "ni**er" will get you fired from your job, in a fight, identified as a bigot etc. Are Scots really that serious about this? Seems like regional nationalistic sentiment to me.......
conifers
16 years ago
Let's keep this in context folks and remember the man's character. I know him very well, in character and I do not believe there is a single bad bone in his body. Some of you may think I'm a weird crazy delusional frustrated person and I am, but let's all be smart enough to end this right now. I went to high school in the hood and pronounciation allows me to say things with eye to eye contact, remember that would SEEM offensive.

I was blashphemeemed from a conversation on a different forum years ago and I apologized here on this forum, and on that forum. I was convinced that "Jap" maple in context had no flurrious harm. Working in the nursery trade I never saw or heard to the tune of a fine ear anyone degrading a people and I was also, convinced, that people were taking away my vocabulary and my own sense of reason, logic, and culture.

Let's let the man say sorry for his off-cue action and put it away for good.

This one doesn't look pretty. I hope all of you have the sense not to lose your cool.

Regards to a friend,

Dax
pineresin
16 years ago
Hi Panserbjorn - the two are very comparable in the reasons why the words are considered pejorative, though there is a difference in degree. It is most certainly seen as having a hateful connotation, even if it was used innocently as an insensitive misstep. The Scots were, while not enslaved, were very severely brutalised, mistreated and disposessed by those who coined the spelling 'scotch', see e.g.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Clearances
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Culloden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Proscription_1746
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dress_Act_1746

Resin
gailz
Original Author
16 years ago
Hey, guys, this conversation is a bit haywire, don't you think? Having lived in Scotland for some time, I know perfectly well that a person therefrom is a Scot, and my tree, being American born, might be considered Scottish American. But it *is* a tree, and a fairly insensitive one in any case, since it seems not to care at all that it has become an eyesore in my yard. No self-respecting Scot would claim any relationship to it at all! I daresay I might well have used the wrong "Scotch" at least once during my life in Scotland, but no one ever even corrected me. The Scots, not so incidentally, are the world's nicest people!
panserbjorn
16 years ago
my mistake not trying to ruffle anyones feathers. I knew people are sensitive about the Scots, Scotch, Scottish thing, but i didnt realize it was that big of a deal. live and learn i guess.

lost leader on Austrian pine

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lost leader on Austrian pine

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