Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2017 10:02:41 -0400
Subject: apples and cedars – and Tick Warrior
From September of 1995 until 2013, the crab apple tree in my front yard and the one by a neighbor’s house were abundant with little apples every summer. People, who went for early morning walks, often told me about seeing deer feeding up close to my house. My apple tree’s branches gracefully embrace the yard, walk, and part of the roof….so apples fall close to the house as well as out onto the yard.
A lot of the deer photos for my book Whispering With Animals came from those feeding times.
Then in 2013 summer the apples on the tree and those fallen onto the ground were shriveled or clearly rotten. With examples in hand, I went down to the county ag office to inquire what might be happening. I was told that this is a malady that occurs when cedar trees are within 3 miles of apple trees. I asked if the tree was dying. They said no, there was nothing to worry about there. That puzzled me. For many years there has been a tall cedar tree behind my house…so why has the apple problem been only recently???
Well, I think the puzzle is now solved. This year, apples are growing in normal health…even though a tall cedar tree at the corner of my house is touching branches with the apple tree. In 2013 I put up signs in my yard to warn the grounds people to not use chemicals in spraying weeds here. I wanted to protect bushes and ground cover from the Round-up spray they use. They continued to spray weeds closer to my neighbor’s part of the yard, which also included the area around the apple trees.
This spring, I told the grounds people I’d spray that area also, instead of their doing so. I used the Tick Warrior that is for killing bugs….Jennifer Platt said it’s also an herbicide. It worked beautifully. YEAY TICK WARRIOR!!!! Mystery solved!
ROUND-UP kills trees! I’m sure that if the grounds people were still in charge of the yard, this apple tree would eventually die…sooner than its genetics would specify. Hey readers! Round-up is horrible for the environment! Jennifer Platt’s products work beautifully and also don’t hurt trees.
Let’s stop ROUNDing-UP!
– Maryphyllis