I think I had posted this to health once, but I'm perplexed. All 3 of
my dogs are eating bark off of my maple tree. Just one tree, none of
the others (only one other maple available to them, and it's a
different variety). Lucy seems more voracious than the other two, but
perhaps that is just due to the fact that she is a more gluttonous dog
in general!

I can't detect any sap or such, and this only started this
fall/winter.

Does anyone have any experience with bark eating dogs? I tell them to
stop, they do, no big deal, but I get the feeling that if I left them
out there, they would love to gorge themselves on the stuff!

I'm thinking of getting tree-wound-care-dressing to both deter them
and make sure the tree is not being damaged. This is an enormous tree
- double the height of the 2 story house. I really don't want
anything to happen to it!

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

"Janet B" wrote in message
...
I think I had posted this to health once, but I'm perplexed.

I can't detect any sap or such, and this only started this
fall/winter.

Insects of any type? Fungus? Could be sap.

DH is out in the woods this afternoon or I could ask him now. But as soon
as he gets back in, I'll see if he has any thoughts - either as a tree
person or as a maple person.

The sap is running strong up here in the further-northeast. Sap season gets
earlier every year - and the early runs are the best. The maple producers
are either tapping trees now or getting ready to or convinced that they are
going to wish that they had. DH grew up in a family with sap in their veins
(225+ years in the same location here). Even though he left the family
business, he loves to do the tapping in the spring. Loves being outside and
in the woods, even if the weather is terrible. Loves the physicalness of
the work. Loves the actual purpose of it.

Judy

"Judy" wrote in message
...
"Janet B" wrote in message
...
I think I had posted this to health once, but I'm perplexed.

I can't detect any sap or such, and this only started this
fall/winter.

Okay, my maple tree guy says that his best guess is that there was some sort
of injury to the tree bark and the sap got started leaking out. One dog
found it and worked it and the rest have followed, keeping the sap leaking
and rewarding the dogs.

He didn't know of any particular insect infestation that could be attacking
the tree and interesting the dogs.

His advice is to get the tree wrapped ASAP.

Judy

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:52:32 -0500, "Judy" ,
clicked their heels and said:


His advice is to get the tree wrapped ASAP.

thank you! I'll do that. It is a huge tree and hangs over the deck
and house. I want to preserve it!
--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

on Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:25:01 GMT, Janet B
wrote:

thank you! I'll do that. It is a huge tree and hangs over the deck
and house. I want to preserve it!

You dog abusing thug. You should stick a spigot in it and teach them how
to turn it on and off!

--
Lynne

Lynne wrote:

You dog abusing thug. You should stick a spigot in it and teach them how
to turn it on and off!

Oh, absolutely. It's the least she could do for those poor wee doggies.

--
Shelly (Warning: see label for details)
http://www.cat-sidh.net (the Mother Ship)
http://esther.cat-sidh.net (Letters to Esther)

On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 07:04:41 -0500, shelly ,
clicked their heels and said:



You dog abusing thug. You should stick a spigot in it and teach them how
to turn it on and off!

Oh, absolutely. It's the least she could do for those poor wee doggies.

actually, I WOULD have a "wee" doggie if I let them consume sugary
stuff. Franklin couldn't handle eating too many apples because of the
sugar, and "wee-d" a LOT. Don't need that again!

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

"montana wildhack" wrote in message
news:200701112208567987-montana@wildhackcominvalid...
So I did a little research and I found out that it might be possible to
grab sap out of our otherwise nasty silver maple tree?!?

Not just a maple. The hard (sugar) maple is used because it has the
sweetest sap - and therefore is the easiest (!) to boil down into syrup.
Other trees can be and are used to make syrup. People make birch syrup, for
example.

But you must be very, very patient. And the flavors do vary.

Probably, off the top of his head, he knows the sugar content of all those
other trees, but I don't.

Judy

In article ,
Judy wrote:
Probably, off the top of his head, he knows the sugar content of all those
other trees, but I don't.

St Lawrence Nurseries sells silver maples for syrup - they
say it's "productive of an excellent sap for syrup,"
although they don't mention a specific sugar content. They
do have a (rather expensive) Sweet Sap Sugar Maple that has
sap with a sugar content of 3-5%, and that's the one I was
thinking of planting.

However, instead of skiing and mushing I've been working
through gardening plans for the year, and I think I'm going
to forgo putting in more trees this year in favor of getting
in some grapes as well as a vegetable garden and maybe some
strawberries. The limiting factor here has always been
water/irrigation, but I think I'm going to put an outside
faucet on the west side of the house so that I'd be able to
put a garden out there and not have to haul buckets to keep
stuff wet, like I do with the fruit trees.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

In article ,
Suja wrote:
Trust me on this. You do not want to plant any silver maples. It has the
usual problem people experience with maples, which is that the surface roots
prevent just about anything from growing underneath it (I'm still trying to
figure out what works), and it has a strong proclivity towards throwing
limbs (brittle wood).

We've got maples all over the place up here and I've got a
few in the yard. One old red maple gave up the ghost about
8 years ago but otherwise they're really not a problem.
Farm, 13 acres, etc. Aside from being beautiful, I'd like
the syrup. St Lawrence claims that the Silver Maple variety
they're selling will be ready to tap in 8-10 years, which
means by the time I'm 60. I'm not getting any younger, and
boy, I am really not getting any younger in a hurry.

Do you have any rain barrels? That should help with the irrigation as well.
I've seen some that had spigots attached, so you may even be able to run a
hose instead of hauling buckets.

Right - I can move those around with the front end loader on
the tractor. Right now I'm hauling 5 gallon buckets in a
trailer behind the quad and I really don't like using that
much gasoline for it. Unfortunately it's about 300' out to
the back of the orchard. Talking to Dr Well about putting a
hydrant out in the yard is on my "To do" list.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community