Kevin Goheen

Thanks! I deeply appreciate your research, even if it means I'll be removing trees. This may have taken me weeks to find. Thank you again!

I first seen this on the chestnut a few days ago, but my father who runs the orchard with me noticed it on the apple as well. I noticed it on some pears as well, and all of the trees can from the same nursery a year ago. I need to know what this is as to whether this can be managed or I should destroy the trees to keep it from spreading. Any information would be awesome.

I live in one of the two main states where they are invasive and fruit production isn't an issue here. Bumble and honey bees absolutely love autumn olive flowers. Since they fix nitrogen, it could be they simply don't have sufficient phosphorous or potassium. Also we have had wild 3 year old seedlings bear fruit here, and one of ours that is about 20 ft tall is about 300 ft or better from another autumn olive and it bears plenty of fruit.

In most cases avoid putting hard materials in the soil unless it is being left fallow afterwards or being used for hugelkultur. Also a note My father and I have used hardwood chips for several years now. They will not rob the soil provided them have time to heat up and decompose, usually for at least 6 months for where I live. The time may differ by climate. The longer you wait the better. If you need to amend the soil while planting you can do as I do with apples in our brick-making quality soil. Dig at least a 3 ft wide and long hole by at least 2 ft deep and replace with 1/3 native soil, 1/3 compost, and 1/3 loam top soil. It works very well and we can actually get apples now, whereas the roots were rotting off before.

An unpopular option you can do if you allow the land to remain fallow is lightly disc organic materials into the soil. This is not plowing, and this should not be done very often. However, if you cover the soil with say wood chips or leaf litter it will help to retain the soil in place and the discing will push the organic matter under the surface where in a year or two it can be better utilized. Also just making sure the soil has ample moisture through the year will allow organic matter to properly decompose into the soil. Also miscanthus grass makes an excellent mulching material that quickly breaking down into really nice top soil. We harvest some every year. And finally a way you may lighten the soil up is daikon radishes, which is common in agriculture now. Funny enough I found that where poison ivy was on the farm usually had lower soil compaction.

We have a couple of very large wild Autumn olives that we keep for fruit and one needed trimming this year because of some die-back. Some of it had decent little logs, and I wonder if the wood is good for anything such as tensile strength (handles/etcs) , mushrooms, or?

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:I often taste unknown plants. It's a perfectly natural way of evaluating the world.

I apologize for the late response. I assume the badlands are out West. In the region you live there may be very few toxic plants, but for example in Kentucky where I live there are numerous highly toxic species you can run into. So as a fellow forager myself, respectfully I say it is highly unwise.

It could be a mustard species, there are a lot of them.

Species adaptation will vary by location, but the wild passionfruit we have in West Ky grows great in various conditions. Grows up to around 25 ft in a year. Fruit is good and leaves are used as a substitute for Prozac in parts of Europe. One of the most beautiful flowers you will ever see.

Dogwoods are good trees. Kousa and Cornellian dogwoods have nice fruit as well. I remember reading that native dogwood fruits were used as a diabetic treatment of some kind.

Yeah looks like a canna. People used the seed in the 1800s for buckshot. Mulch them good as they are sensitive to winter cold.