Fire Recovery Tips

By Susan Carter, CSU Extension Tri River Area, Horticulture and Natural Resource Agent

I live in Fruita where the Pine Gulch Fire had the title of the largest Colorado fire until the Cameron Peak Fire exceeded it.  Having to respond to the effects of fire in many ways has taught me a lot this year.  Pardon me if I go off the plant topic a little on and off in this blog, but I hope you will appreciate it.

During our fire I had many mornings where the garden covered in ash.  I learned that the ash was very high pH, coming in around 11!  Seven is neutral and in Western Colorado it is common for our alkaline soils to be a pH of 8.   So 11 is very high.  So hosing or blowing off the ash so the plants would not be harmed by a loss of photosynthesis and the ash is a good idea.  I did end up with one squash plant that suffered.  If your walkways and other hard surfaces are covered with ash, sweep them off and throw it away.  Do NOT add it to the garden.  This is especially dangerous if any structures burned as then you don’t know what might be in the ash.

During Pine Gulch fire I got a question about animals, so here is the information I got from some wonderful CSU experts.  Keep your pets and backyard chickens and other animals inside as much as possible.  Clean their water often as ash can mess up their digestive systems.  Animals don’t need to be breathing the air any more than we do.  Try to watch your local air quality and do your landscaping and gardening when the air quality is not so bad.

The drought, fire and ash got me thinking about defensible space and being ready for an emergency.  My husband is a retired firefighter EMT of 21 years and fought many wildfires.  So we have items in case of emergency in our car, etc...  Make part of your gardening and landscaping thinking and acting to prevent fires around your property.   In this time of drought, wildfires could happen ANYWHERE.  We should all be prepared. https://www.ready.gov/

So how can you be prepared in the garden and landscape?  Well, I would start by removing any dead plants.  Deadhead flowers (removing flower stalks that are no longer blooming) as often these dry out.  Plus this will put my energy back in the root system of perennials and shrubs instead of working on producing seeds.  Remove leaf litter that is close to the house or in the gutters.  It just takes one ember to land in a crook of the house where there is debris and a fire starts.  You could start a compost pile away from the house to put plant debris.  Use rock mulch or other materials like flagstone, pavers, or other non-combustible materials closest to the house.  Keep wood piles and other wood products or structures away from the house.  Ideally a zone of lower growing, high-moderate water loving plants would be closer to your house as long as it does not affect your foundation. 

To create defensible space, height should increase as you move away from the house. 

See this website for more detailed information on Defensible Space. 

https://csfs.colostate.edu/wildfire-mitigation/protect-your-home-property-forest-from-wildfire/#:~:text=Defensible%20space%20is%20the%20area,modified%20to%20reduce%20fire%20hazard.&text=Develop%20these%20zones%20around%20each,buildings%2C%20barns%20and%20other%20structures.

Did you know that there are plants that are more fire resistant?  Of course some of that depends on drought and how much moisture is in the plants.  https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/natural-resources/firewise-plant-materials-6-305/ .  Choose plants that do not produce a lot of litter under them.  Aspen trees would be a good high altitude garden choice over 5000 plus feet elevation, I personally recommend even higher like 6-7000’ as aspen do not do well in the low Valley’s heat and clay soil.  

Pinyon pine with twig or bark beetle damage, picture from Tri River Area

Now let’s talk drought.  I have been getting many calls about older trees not doing well.  For those of us in town with irrigation, give your trees and landscape a really good drink before the irrigation goes off.  If you live on a large properties or up in the mountains, typically there is not a lot you can do other than depending on Mother Nature for moisture.  But could you water one or a few favorite or most important trees?  If they are mature established trees, water out twice their height or spread and give them a deep soak once a month to a depth of 12-18”.  This will keep them vigorous enough to help ward of insects like bark beetles and borers.  Some trees, like pinion pines, might need some insecticide treatments to prevent ips beetle from investing.  When there are epidemics of insects and there is prolonged drought, the trees are very susceptible to attack. https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/insects/ips-beetles-5-558/

For trees with lower dead limbs, removing them can decrease fire ladder potential and helps the tree to heal.  Prune evergreens when dormant to prevent attracting insects like bark beetles and borers.  Make sure you use proper pruning techniques and cut outside the bark ridge and bark collar.  For bigger limbs use the three cut method to prevent the limb from breaking and causing trunk damage. https://static.colostate.edu/client-files/csfs/pdfs/613.pdf Turn these limbs into chips or stack in a wood pile, again away from your structures.  If the plants are diseased or insect infested follow appropriate protocol for that particular issue to dispose of or prevent any spread of issues.

I hate to say it but I am hoping for an earlier winter with lots of moisture to help with the fires and the drought.  We can only do, what we can do the rest is up to Mother Nature.

Are your trees STRESSED?

Posted by: Susan Carter, Mesa County Extension

Stress, we all suffer from it at some point or another.  When we are stressed, we are more prone to get a cold or some other illness.  However, have you ever thought about the stress your plants and trees go through?  For a plant, stress could be planted in the wrong place, incorrectly planted, too much or too little water, storms including lightning, hail, fast changes in weather and long term stress like drought.  The effects on the plants could include something as simple as dropping a few leaves, going into fall color early, or more severely dropping all its leaves and not recouping.  Stress also attracts the bad bugs.

Pinyon pine with Ips damage and drought stress.

Here is Western Colorado; long term drought followed by a severe drought from October 2017-October 2018 has greatly affected our trees.  October to October is considered a water year.  In addition, when you add in incorrect care, boy can the trees suffer.  An example is you see many ash trees planted in parking lot planters.  Did you know ash trees are not particularly fond of heat? Right Plant, Right Place.

Mature ash showing signs of drought stress.

Well, could you put them in a hotter situation and with a limited amount of space for the roots to grow?  And to compound that there may be landscape fabric and rock with drip irrigation, making it hard for the trees to get enough moisture.  Therefore, these ash trees suffer from drought and heat stress attracting such insects as flat-headed apple borer,lilac ash borer and ash bark beetle. Once you get a major insect infestation, it is hard to save or bring back the tree to what it should be.  The ash trees on the western slope may be gone before the emerald ash borer makes it over the mountain.

Then we have our Pinon Pine.  They are native just a little higher in elevation than the Grand Valley.  They can live up to 800 years and produce the pine nuts that we eat.  Many animals depend on this tree and typically, it is a wonderful smaller evergreen for drought tolerant landscapes.  It prefers a deep soak about once a month.  In nature, the long-term drought have made them very susceptible to Ips beetle, also called Engraver beetles from the pattern that they leave from their eating under the bark.  When a tree is healthy and has enough water, but not too much, it can push the beetle out with its pitch.  But when stressed it gets attacked and more and more beetles come up to the thousands.  Once this has happened it takes a little while to turn brown, but once it does it is too late.  Since we water, we often do not see issues that occur in the wild happening in our landscape.  Unfortunately, numbers of Ips are so high and our landscape trees are stressed, so we are rapidly losing pinon pines in the landscape.  

Pinon pine with Ips damage.

Adult Ips beetle.

So what can you do?  Well if your pinyon is still green, treat the trunk with a pyrethroid spray in spring and fall. Then water properly!  What does that mean?  Well, we are great at watering trees when we first install them.  Then we forget to MOVE the water with the root growth.  The drip at the trunk is only good for the first 4-5 months, and then the roots want to grow beyond that.  Pinyons are one of the few trees that has a modified root system of part taproot but mostly spreading root.  So as wide as the crown of the tree, multiple by at least two (2) to get where the roots occur.  In rocky areas, this is even greater distance.  Therefore, a 10’ wide tree has a minimum of a 20’ wide root system. 

Pinon pine in Glade Park with drought stress.

In addition, the majority of the root system is in the top 12-18” of soil.  So wet that entire mass of root system.  Do not plant drought resistant trees in a lawn, which has different watering needs.  Don’t use weed fabric; it blocks movement of air and water and causes roots to rise and girdle making them less drought tolerant.

If you plant new trees, plant a diversity of trees.  Plant them in the right place that they love.  Follow our planting guidelines.  In addition, do not forget to move the water.

Tree Seeds of Fall

Posted by: Alison O'Connor, Larimer County Extension

The end of August and early September can be pretty "blah" in the garden. While we're harvesting zucchini and tomatoes up the wazoo, the perennials and shrubs are looking tired. That is, until we start seeing some fall color.

But the tree seeds have been growing all year and will soon be fully mature. They are beautiful in their own right and some can be quite attractive and showy. Some seeds are persistent through winter, adding interest.

Here's a few of the common tree seeds you'll see around the landscape:

Oaks

There are two groups of oaks--red and white. Red oaks include the red oak (Quercus rubra), pin oak (Q. palustris), and scarlet oak (rare in Colorado) (Q. coccinea). Red oaks have pointy leaves and the acorns are usually in pairs on the tree, taking two years to mature. The red oaks, in general, have a "classic" acorn. Red oaks are not always a great choice for Colorado landscapes, though some species, like Texas red, are more tolerant to high soil pH.

Pin oak leaves and acorns

The white oak group includes bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa), swamp white oak (Q. bicolor) and English oak (Q. robur). These species tend to have lobed leaves and are MUCH better choices for Colorado landscapes. They are more tolerant to high soil pH and do better with dry climates. The acorns of white oaks vary, but take one year to mature, and leaves from these trees can persist on the tree through winter. Fall color for white oaks is usually yellow and they don't get the brilliant reds and maroons of red oaks.

Bur oak and acorn. 

The bur oak acorn is very large (macrocarpa is Latin for "big fruit"). The cap of the acorn (scientifically called the involuchre) nearly covers the entire nut and is very hairy. As the acorns mature, the cap and seed will turn brown/tan.

English oak and acorn.

I adore English oak for many reasons, but I find the acorns to be particularly endearing. They are long and skinny with a small cap on top. The way I remember this tree are two-fold: 1) the leaves have "earlobes" at the base where the petiole (stem) attaches to the tree. I was taught to remember Prince Charles's earlobes; 2) the acorn, being long and skinny, reminds me of a tall Frenchman with a beret on his head. England, France....both located across the ocean. We don't have a French oak, so this is my association.

The acorns of bur oak (top left), English oak (bottom) and pin oak (right).

Buckeyes/horsechestnuts

Buckeyes and horsechestnuts are great trees for Colorado. They have showy flowers in early spring and are tolerant to our soils. The Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) is a fairly common species, though could be planted more. (And for the record...Go Bucks!)

Buckeye fruit has small spines. Towards the end of the fall, the capsule will break open and reveal the shiny brown nut inside--keep one in your pocket for good luck. Squirrels go crazy for these nuts and bury them all over. If you have a buckeye in your landscape, you'll likely get volunteer seedlings.

Ohio buckeye leaf and fruit (seed not mature).

Horsechestnuts are very similar, but the fruit capsule has more spines and there are multiple fruits in one capsule.

Catalpa

Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) is one of the bigger trees in our landscapes. Mature catalpa can reach heights of 50 feet or more. They are very showy with their white orchid-like flowers in June. Catalpa are drought tolerant with huge leaves and cigar-shaped fruit. (Disclaimer: Growing up in Minnesota, our neighbors had a catalpa in their front yard and we would either pretend to "smoke" the fruit or use them as swords--neither practice is recommended.) Many find the leaves and fruit to be messy, but it's just something to consider before planting.

Catalpa leaves and seed pod. The leaves can be much larger than this, about the size of an adult's face. The seed pods will mature and turn brown, but often hang on the tree through late fall and into winter.

Maples

Oh maples (Acer sp.). I do love this tree, even though it's one that can get sickly in our dry, high pH soils. Seeing the sugar and red maples along the St. Croix River bluffs on the Minnesota/Wisconsin border in fall was always a highlight. Most everyone knows maples have samaras (you may call them "helicopter-whirly-gigs") but samaras come in all shapes and sizes. Tatarian maple (A. tataricum) has small cherry red samaras in clusters; Norway maples (A. platanoides) have wide samaras that you can perch on your nose.

Norway maple leaf and samara--the one you can perch on your nose.

Ash

Ash (Fraxinus sp.) are still a very common landscape plant in Colorado and this year, the green ash (F. pennsylvanica) had a seed heyday. This happens every few years--generally when we have good spring moisture. The ash seed is also called a samara, but it's a single fruit, unlike the maple. Many of the newer ash planted are male clones, which do not form seed.

Leaves and seeds from green ash.

Kentucky coffeetree

Another drought tolerant, tough-as-nails tree for the landscape, Kentucky coffeetree (Gymnocladus kentukea) has amazingly thick, chunky seed pods that are retained through the winter. The structure of the tree is very coarse, so the seed pods give it great winter interest. The green seed pods turn into a chocolate brown color. Squirrels also love the seeds. The leaves of this tree are considered as doubly compound, where the leaf branches twice. If you grow this tree, be patient. It doesn't look like much for a few years.

Kentucky coffeetree leaf (one leaf!) and seed pod.

There are many other trees in the landscape with interesting seeds, leaves and fruit. Take a closer look into the tree canopy and see what you find. If you ever need help identifying trees in your landscape, contact your local Extension office!

Maple the Beagle. Not the tree.