Mistletoe – The Parasite in our Elm Trees
Mistletoe – a Plant Feeding off of a Plant… (sort of)
Those lovely clumps of green leaves you see in your tree right now, are not the Seasonal Icon you might see them as. They are the parasite we “romantically” refer to as Mistletoe. Not sure how it became part of the season’s lore, but it did.
An invasive pest, this plant is spread around by birds eating their berries, and then “depositing” them all over the Trees other branches.
Once its stuck to a branch it begins to push it’s Haustoria or “Sinkers” into the tree’s branches.
Haustoria are essentially the Mistletoe’s roots. They penetrate the bark, and enter the tree branches and as they do they take water and nutrients that the Tree needs for survival. Like roots enter and expand in the soil, so does the Haustoria enter the Tree and begin taking anything thats available… So the Mistletoe can continue its expansion down and throughout the Tree, eventually killing it.
Preventable, but not the easiest treatment to execute. Some try to remove the Mistletoe by cutting it at the base of the plant, and hope it dies, (usually doesn’t) others wrap the Mistletoe in plastic to suffoicate it. It’s hit or miss, and its labor intensive.
We spray the Mistletoe with a blend of products and have excellent results. Every tree we treated last year is clean and Mistletoe free this year. That’s 100% control. We treat it in February, (once should do it) since that is the time Mistletoe is most vulnerable.
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