Do white pines get old & brittle???

[rumwrks]

The deadly blister rust canker only affects white pines.

It actually also requires ribes (currant/gooseberry) as part of it's lifecycle for some reason. That's why black currant jelly isn't popular in the US whereas it was in England and was also popular early in our history. They banned them to help stop the rust. They're allowed in some parts of the country now but there are still big quarantine areas and some places where currants are still outright banned.

Source I was trying to get currants to reproduce my grandmothers currant jelly which was basically a vastly superior option to cranberry jelly (and I like cranberry jelly).

 

[jyoutz]

It actually also requires ribes (currant/gooseberry) as part of it's lifecycle for some reason. That's why black currant jelly isn't popular in the US whereas it was in England and was also popular early in our history. They banned them to help stop the rust. They're allowed in some parts of the country now but there are still big quarantine areas and some places where currants are still outright banned.

Source I was trying to get currants to reproduce my grandmothers currant jelly which was basically a vastly superior option to cranberry jelly (and I like cranberry jelly).

Correct, Ribes species are the alternative host for white pine blister rust. But it was determined many decades ago that banning currents was a hopeless solution because there are so many native species of Ribes in the wild.

 

[ruffdog]

Correct, Ribes species are the alternative host for white pine blister rust. But it was determined many decades ago that banning currents was a hopeless solution because there are so many native species of Ribes in the wild.

When I was very young, my dad sent me out in the wild to yank gooseberries for this very reason. Yeah, right. There is way too many of them ALL over the place.

 

[jyoutz]

When I was very young, my dad sent me out in the wild to yank gooseberries for this very reason. Yeah, right. There is way too many of them ALL over the place.

The strategy in the forestry community today is to select individuals that appear to be resistant to the disease, then genetically screen them and establish seed orchards of these genetically resistant trees to produce cones for future seed collection and seedling propagation. Then we can plant genetically resistant trees. The Pacific northwest and California regions are currently ahead with this research and are producing genetically resistant seedlings.

 

[mllud]

The strategy in the forestry community today is to select individuals that appear to be resistant to the disease, then genetically screen them and establish seed orchards of these genetically resistant trees to produce cones for future seed collection and seedling propagation. Then we can plant genetically resistant trees. The Pacific northwest and California regions are currently ahead with this research and are producing genetically resistant seedlings.

Thy have been doing that with our food crops for decades. I sometimes wish that I could stand in a bean or corn field for from 1965 on one side and todays crop on the other.
I do know that some of that is genetic engineering but it's also choosing strong resistant seeds. I guess that is part of genetic engineering
I did not know that they were doing that with tree stock. With huge section of forests and species like Ash getting wiped out they have their hands full. Gives hope for our forests,

When I was a kid in 1960's we had an Elm tree 24" in diameter. Had a killer rope swing!
Dutch elm disease wiped out the all the large elm trees. It was supposed to kill all the Elm. We still have Elm, but it grows to about 8" diameter and dies. It would be nice to bring that species back to what it was.

We have one evasive bush that has completely changed our landscape in eastern Missouri. Bush Honeysuckle. Choking out hardwood seedlings.
Now an offshoot of Bradford Pear is on the run.
Way off topic

 

[jyoutz]

Thy have been doing that with our food crops for decades. I sometimes wish that I could stand in a bean or corn field for from 1965 on one side and todays crop on the other.
I do know that some of that is genetic engineering but it's also choosing strong resistant seeds. I guess that is part of genetic engineering
I did not know that they were doing that with tree stock. With huge section of forests and species like Ash getting wiped out they have their hands full. Gives hope for our forests,

When I was a kid in 1960's we had an Elm tree 24" in diameter. Had a killer rope swing!
Dutch elm disease wiped out the all the large elm trees. It was supposed to kill all the Elm. We still have Elm, but it grows to about 8" diameter and dies. It would be nice to bring that species back to what it was.

We have one evasive bush that has completely changed our landscape in eastern Missouri. Bush Honeysuckle. Choking out hardwood seedlings.
Now an offshoot of Bradford Pear is on the run.
Way off topic

There’s good news about American elm trees. There are new genetically resistant trees being released that are resistant to Dutch elm disease. Much of the forest genetics work involves discovering the few that are naturally resistant and then breeding from those trees. I haven’t heard of anything hopeful for ash trees and emerald ash borer.

 

[rumwrks]

I haven’t heard of anything hopeful for ash trees and emerald ash borer.

There's some work being done.

Some trees appear to be largely resistant, we're still figuring out why but it appears to have something to do with tannins.. so there's some seed stock hope from the (admittedly rare) survivors. And there are some significant projects to collect seed banks of the not-yet-dead trees to try to preserve the genetic diversity.

Having said that, they found them a few counties north of me and I'm already working on thinning them along my stream beds (which are majority ash now) and working on introducing some alternative trees in those spaces now.. It might be 5, or 10, or 20 years before it really hits me.. but... I'd rather be a bit ahead of it anyway.

 

[jyoutz]

There's some work being done.

Some trees appear to be largely resistant, we're still figuring out why but it appears to have something to do with tannins.. so there's some seed stock hope from the (admittedly rare) survivors. And there are some significant projects to collect seed banks of the not-yet-dead trees to try to preserve the genetic diversity.

Having said that, they found them a few counties north of me and I'm already working on thinning them along my stream beds (which are majority ash now) and working on introducing some alternative trees in those spaces now.. It might be 5, or 10, or 20 years before it really hits me.. but... I'd rather be a bit ahead of it anyway.

Good to know. My forestry expertise is more focused on conifers and not hardwoods.