DWARF
MISTLETOE – Not a Kissing Matter
By Jo Noble
For city dwellers, it is a holiday treat that can mortify a 12 year old boy
and delight giggly young girls. For us mountain dwellers, it’s an entirely
different matter. Unlike the holiday species, our local variety is a
parasite that slowly sucks the life out of our pine trees. And, it is not
easy to get rid of.
 Dwarf mistletoe
(Arceuthobium) is a gold-colored flowering plant with leafless shoots of one
to five inches. During August or September, the mature seed is ejected from
the plant at up to 60 miles an hour and can travel about 50 feet. The way
mistletoe grows usually directs the ejected seeds upward, infecting higher
branches, although it is extremely efficient at infecting trees growing
nearby. The seeds are sticky and easily transported by deer, our beloved
Abert squirrels, birds, etc. to other trees.
Dwarf mistletoe
kills slowly, and as the tree starts to wither it becomes more susceptible
to attack from pine beetles. Even though it causes more damage to forests
than any other disease or insect, there has been, so far, no chemical
treatment that can kill the mistletoe without killing the tree. Removal and
proper disposal are our best choices. Pruning infected branches is a
beginning. But because dwarf mistletoe seeds can lie dormant for several
years, continuous re-inspection and further pruning is paramount.
The best
protection from dwarf mistletoe is prevention. A healthy stand of Ponderosa
Pine provides us with beauty, fire mitigation, and insect and disease
mitigation. Pictures from the early 1900’s before logging show a healthy,
more park-like Ponderosa forest with trees as much as 30 to 50 feet apart.
Periodic fires would sweep through the forest, burning out small seedlings
and killing invading plants, bugs and fungus. Although we certainly cannot
promote this fire cycle, we can thin our trees to allow healthy stands.
If you have
questions about mistletoe, bugs, disease or any other concerns, you can
contact either Allen Owen or Craig Jones at the Colorado State Forest
Service, Boulder District Office. For a small fee, they will come out and
do an evaluation of your forested property. Their number is (303) 823-5774.
Another
excellent reference is Charles Arnold’s “Homeowner’s Guide to Dwarf
Mistletoe Management.” You can find it on the net at
www.rmrs.nau.edu/mistletoe/hguide/.
From
The Pine Brook Press, Autumn, 01 |
