Rhode Island Feeds

The first 5 individuals to email RITree at ritree@ritree.org with the correct answers to the following five questions will win a free copy of the 46 page publication 2011 Champion Tree of Rhode Island.  

The quiz will actually test your knowledge of conifers.  All of the questions are part and parcel of the "themes" discussed at the "Knowing Your Trees" series of plant identification workshops hosted by RITree during the year.  The last Conifer Workshop was held in October 2011 at the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in North Providence, RI.  The 2012 series of three plant id workshops will start again in February 2012.  The first workshop will provide instruction on Plant Ornamentals (i.e. Cherry, Dogwood, Magnolia, Viburnum, Hydrangea, etc.,). 

Here are the 5 questions, good luck.

I witnessed the first adult male winter moths (Operophtera brumata) on my white panel screen back door over the Thanksgiving holiday. They were there two nights in a row obviously attracted to the outdoor security light that I leave on in the early evening. The male moths are light brown to tan in color and all four wings are fringed with small elongate scales that give the hind margins a hairy or fringed appearance (see photo 1). The male moths emerge (the adult stage of winter moth) from the soil usually in late November and may be active into January whenever the air temperatures are mild (usually above freezing).

The Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) was discovered attacking trees in Ohio in July, 2011. This invasive pest was first spotted by the operator of a vineyard located in the Town of Batavia in Clermont County, Ohio. Tree surveys conducted by the USDA-FS since July have confirmed 5,000 trees have been infested by the ALB. They further estimate that up to 50,000 trees -most of them located on private property- may have to be felled in order to eradicate this pest in Clermont County. Ohio is the 5th state to declare an ALB infestation. The others are Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

The fall and early winter period has been quite a busy one for the Champion Tree Program. A surge of recent tree nominations meant we needed to ramp up our inspection schedule. Our goal was to complete all the necessary field inspections of each and every nominated tree before the arrival of bad weather. There were 53 trees to examine and not a moment to waste. So we assembled our band of erstwhile tree hunters and got moving. I am pleased to report that as of this writing all but 5 of the tree inspections have been done. We hope to get to them soon as long as the good weather stays with us!

To Subordinate or Not To..... Two pruning workshops held this past fall attracted a total of 26 tree stewards. The first was held on Saturday, October 15 at the RI Veterans' Memorial Cemetery in Exeter, RI. The second session took place at the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary at 399 Fruit Hill Avenue in North Providence, RI. Both work sessions focused on training plants for good structure and health. I must say that I was extremely impressed with the quality of the work done by 'citizen pruners' at each work site. Those at RIVC were nothing short of brilliant in the way they meticulously eliminated co-dominate and white pine weevil damaged leaders from white pines near the cemetery's main entrance.

Want fall foliage color, don't blame the trees, blame the temperature! Let's not be too quick to fault the local flora for the rather so-so fall foliage season we just encountered. The truth is the foliage color performance may not have been as bad as one may have initially thought. Especially when we dig deeper to learn what causes fall leaf color and how hard trees must work to dazzle us with autumn color.