This is one of the culprits in the pending demise of our apple trees. It's
gui (mistletoe), a parasitic plant, and it's common in France. We see it all around us not only in apple trees, but in poplars and hawthorn, too. In the fall, the berries ripen and turn white. Certain birds love to eat them, but I read that they're poisonous to humans.
A rather large mistletoe plant in our biggest apple tree.
After birds eat the berries, they spread the seeds in their droppings to other trees. The seeds have a sticky coating that helps them to adhere to tree branches where they take root. According to my
extensive quick and superficial research, mistletoe is nearly impossible to remove once it's established.
Old age is tough all around. Will you plant another apple tree one day?
ReplyDeleteI wonder why it began being used for kissing under the ____. ?
ReplyDeleteSee...in order to rid the trees of mistletoe, more demand needs to be created for the holiday use of the plant under doorways (for kissing!). Then, more people would go out into the woods and shoot it down to sell. Econ 101! HA! That's what my Junior Achievement group did one year - we had one of our classmates and his Dad shoot the mistletoe out of the trees - which we then packaged and sold door-to-door for our "business"! Back in the 60's!
ReplyDeleteMary in Oregon
Call the Normas
ReplyDeleteevelyn, maybe some other kind of tree, like a cherry.
ReplyDeletejudy, Wikipedia explains a little of that.
mary, shoot it out of the tree? Yikes!
michael, what should we call them? BTW, who are the Normas?
Until you, I’d never known anyone who had to deal with mistletoe. How frustrating.
ReplyDeleteBetter than climbing to get out the mistletoe!
ReplyDeleteMary