Re: Re: tsuga

In a message dated 02/27/2003 12:36:08 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
lindsey@mallorn.com writes:

> Kitty wrote:
> >Cathy,
> >I have read that Eastern Hemlock can be tempermental and that it
> >requires some shade, but I thought that since you and I are in similar
> >climate, they'd be easy for you. Mine have been planted in amended clay
> >soil and mulched. However, the ones on the Extension Office Grounds are
> >planted in heavy clay, no protection, and seem to do just fine, too.
> 
> They definitely take some TLC until they're established here or else 
> they'll dry out and die.  Once they've been in the ground for a while 
> they're pretty tough and can handle drought quite well.
> 
> The West side of my backyard is ringed by mature Tsuga canadensis that 
> perform beautifully, but I lost two new ones last year because I didn't 
> water them enough during the drought.
> 

Here in the Hudson Valley, z5, Tsuga canadensis seems totally hardy and 
tough.  They are favored as hedge plants, as they can be sheared and will 
grow really thick.  However, and this is a big however, they have been nearly 
wiped out in the wild by wooly adelgid (I have the technical name somewhere, 
but it is similar to mealy bugs on your house plants).  We have managed to 
keep our hedge and several large unpruned hemlocks by dint of spraying three 
times a year with dormant oil spray, but heavy stands in the woods near us 
are completely dead - all this has come about in less than ten years.  
  Also, but this may not be a problem elsewhere, our hedge has suffered from 
road salt in recent years.  Until five years ago we had no road services at 
all, but five years ago the town started plowing and salting our road, and 
the hedge now has brown dead patches at the points where puddles formed in 
the road and splashed on the trees.  It's been helpful to have the road 
plowed, but the damage to the hedge is distressing.
  Hemlocks are beautiful trees, and until these past few years I would have 
thought they were practically indestructible.  Even deer don't eat them.
Auralie

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