Here in the heart of bronze birch borer Gotham, if you plant a paper birch, it dies. But once in a blue moon you'll find one that has endured. Here is one in the tiniest of island beds on a very busy stripmall strip. Never watered or sprayed. It is on the north side of the building. I'm also wondering if being so isolated and in such a consistently polluted area if the borers just cannot find it.
Scott
Wouldn't know about "never sprayed" - sprayed with all sorts of petrochemicals, I'd suspect!
Probably right about it benefitting from a 'smell screen' of pollution making it impossible for the borers to pick up the birch scent
Resin
Probably owned, planted, and lovingly maintained by some bright-eyed KY optimist, outwitting those pesky upper midwestern borers.
No, I talked with the staff there, who thought I was absolutely insane, btw, for having any interest in their tree whatsoever and especially for taking its picture, and they told me that nobody ever waters or sprays the tree.
Scott
maybe the jiffylube smell keeps them at bay?
Or perhaps its roots are tapping into a leaking waste oil tank, giving it some built-in resistance to the borers.
No, Since all Jiffy Lube employees are required to originate in KY, they have always top dressed it with the spent oil to keep the dust down, don't you know, and tie the mulch together so as to not blow away.
This message was edited Mar 24, 2006 11:09 AM
Most disrespected Catalpa in Wisconsin --
the living signpost of Moose Jaw Beer!
Guy S.
Where else! I'm suprised there's no cheesehead on the moose.
