Trees, Nature & Druidry

@dannyboy, Jeanne gives sound advice. Just start cutting off pieces, but do talk to the tree first. Explain it and use it's limbs for something in your house. Perhaps a nice carpeting project;-) It remains a living being and deserves a little love. ❤️ 

I posted and saw @ana 's response on the next page! What she said!

I am dealing with a tree-house issue myself.  Tree roots on the right side of my house are wrapped around my sprinkler box system causing some issues which we are in the process of correcting.

Perhaps you could save some seeds from the tree and plant some new ones in the yard, far away from the house foundation?  

@dannyboy

Being a reverent tree lover myself, I find that living in a forest of beautiful evergreens is the ultimate healing atmosphere both for body and soul .... there are 'tree exceptions' though, and after looking at your pic of tree and your description of the leaves looking like your walnut tree ...?

The tree could possibly be the dreaded 'Tree of Heaven', tho it's more like the tree from hell! It's a Grove tree that was brought to the US by the Chinese for shade when they were building the railroads throughout the country, and is one of the most invasive species that is really hard to eradicate once it gets a foothold and the shoots grow up ..... it's more like a rapidly growing weed.

In my native California I've seen this 'tree actually destroy houses as it gets a toehold in the foundation and will grow very fast through the walls even... in NYC they are planted along streets as they are impervious to smog and about everything else, almost impossible to destroy.  But yeah, nice shade.

If you think this might be the devil tree, you should try to eradicate it asap, and all the saplings around it. Just burn it and the whole root system! No mercy.... ?

@stargazer so I googled tree of heaven and those do look like the leaves - I’m going to pay close attention to everything with it this spring.  Our whole grounds are literally weed plants and weed trees so this would be a thing we would inexplicably have ?

@dannyboy

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tree tidings db, but those things are awful .... and they eventually choke everything else out. Best to look over your property to see if any more have been shooting up and get rid of them all if indeed they are the devil trees...

Your historic home will thank you! Hope you and your family are keeping well... tomorrow we wake to a brand new day ...??

PS... Plant some evergreens instead ?????

@stargazer,OMG, I know the Tree of Heaven. If it is the Tree of Heaven, then kill the mother and read about how to do that. Good intuition, stargazer.

Holy crap! An evil tree?! ? Say it isn't so ? 

@moonbeam. Aww. Not evil, just being itself. Like some people we've known.

Well there's a huge rusted barn on the other side of our property (it's our neighbors - it's hideous) - maybe if it IS the tree of Heaven, I'll plant all the seeds over there .  We tried getting trees to grow there before but the ground was too rocky and ultimately didn't get enough water during the rainy seasons so they all died but one.  By the time they'd make their way back over to me (which, lets face it, I run over things on the lawn mower all the time) my wife and I would be dead and gone.  We live on two acres so there's room to grow :P

(We still hope to sell the house in our 50s and move somewhere closer to town when the twins graduate)

I am going to wait until the spring or summer to really check out what kind of tree it is - maybe I'll message our resident arborist when it's in full bloom if I'm still unable to identify it.  But yes, I'll get it out of there.  We have big family bonfires so much of it will end up in the fire pit in celebration of being able to commune with friends again.  But there's one branch in particular I might have my wife do some wire work on and turn into a fire poker/walking stick.

@jeanne-mayell ? 

@dannyboy that's a great idea! You give them another life, far away from your house and they will be strong enough to survive that bit of ground! ❤️ 

Yes, ask an arborist to identify it. No no, Don't  help Tree of Heaven. Something to know about Tree of heaven:  if you cut it down without pulling every single root, it will come right back.  It can grow back from even a tiny piece of its root.   It sends shoots out more than 50 feet.  It is nearly impossible to irradicate. It does not need your help.

@dannyboy Identifying if it is the Tree of Heaven is probably the best thing to do. If it is, and it really is this invasive (which our wise group says it is ? ), there is nothing else for it: it has to go. You cannot have your house at stake for a tree, no matter how much we love them. However, you can still make something from its branches. Basket weaving even!

Also, free seeds for new trees that are native to the US here https://www.arborday.org/

@jeanne-mayell , i wasn't sure where to post this, but i loved reading this article, and i thought you may enjoy it too.  It is about a Punk rocker in Oakland who discovers that she can communicate with animals, especially birds.  From Harper's Magazine, here is "The Crow Whisperer":

          https://harpers.org/archive/2021/04/the-crow-whisperer-animal-communicators/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

@unk-p I loved that story. I could read stories like that all day.

I need to start using my own whisperer abilities. I can read them but it's a whole other gift to be able to work with them.

A few weeks ago, grackles found my bird feeder.  They are so greedy. They emptied the feeder in three days whereas before they came, it would take three weeks.  They are gangsters.  They loiter in the yard, yakking and keeping the other birds away. I want to reason with them. Give them their own feeder if only they would leave the little birds alone. Forget it. They want everything. Is there a grackle whisperer out there?

@jeanne-mayell grackles may be rude dinner guests, but they won't stay in your yard forever.  They have to eat a lot, to prepare for their migration, and they will probably be out of there by the end of the month.  I just read that the number of grackles is down to 73 million.  It was 190 million in the '70s.  Grackles will eat almost anything, but they really love to eat grubworms from lawns.  Unfortunately, many homeowners use poison to control the grubs- and then the grackles die from eating the poisoned grubs.  And then there are farmers who don't want to share their crops with the birds, so they hire companies to spray entire flocks of grackles in the winter, at night, with a chemical that strips the protective oils from their feathers.  This ghastly human trick causes the birds to freeze to death in agony.

 My advice would be to love and feed them as much as you can, and wish them well on their journey.

@unk-p Oh that is awful!  I don't use any sprays on my yard so maybe that's why they like it here.  I will fill up the feeder now, happily!  Interestingly, I just on impulse bought a big bag of bird seed yesterday.

@unk-p. Regarding the grackles, I bought more seed and filled up a large feeder yesterday morning. The grackles came and wolfed it all down in a day.  Also I read that they aren't leaving by the end of the month. In fact they just got here and are staying through the fall. They are probably leaving where you live in the south by the end of the month to come up north where I live. I need to rethink my plan.

@jeanne-mayell   I found this article suggesting kinds of bird feeders you could try to make it harder for the grackles to hog all the food:

https://www.whatbirdsareinmybackyard.com/2020/04/how-to-get-rid-of-grackles-blackbirds-starlings-at-bird-feeder.html

@ana thank you!Am reading that article now.