One New Thing Every Day

From the day I turned 29, I tried to do one new thing a day... it took a few extra months, but I did it! Now I'll post new things randomly as I try them.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

#400 - Healthy Tree

In the early summer, we noticed that one of the five trees in our backyard was growing brown clumps on the branches near the budding leaves. Concerned, I took a sample to the state agriculture office to ask about what kind of fungus it was and how to get rid of it. I became even more concerned when instead of a fungus, they told me we had an infestation of teeny-tiny bugs that were slowly eating the tree! They told me the only way to get rid of the bugs was to wait until fall, when the leaves fall off, then remove the clumps by hand. This would avoid removing large branches of the tree (which would be bad for the tree) and would get rid of the bugs. So today, I spent 30 minutes standing on a ladder pruning a tree. The branches are pretty high on this tree, so I really only helped two branches today, but every little bit helps, right? We have a long way to go out there before the snow arrives, though. Whew!

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