The Kanawha Reporter, Thursday, January 8, 2015
ISU Extension recommends pruning oak trees in winter
Ames - The weather has grown colder, but that doesn’t mean Iowans should ignore their trees until spring. It’s quite the opposite, in fact. Winter is the best time to prune oak trees in Iowa. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach horticulturists offer tips on how to safely and smartly prune oak trees. To have additional questions answered, contact the ISU Hortline at 515-294-3108 or hortline@iastate. edu. Winter (December through February) is the best time to prune oak trees in Iowa. Pruning oak trees in winter greatly reduces the risk of an oak wilt infection. Oak wilt is a fungal disease that is lethal to many oaks. It can be spread from infected trees to healthy trees by sap-feeding beetles (“picnic bugs”). Oak wilt infections occur most commonly in spring and early summer, when sap-feeding beetles are very active. During this same time, oak wilt infected trees are producing masses of spore-producing fungal material (spore mats). These mats release a fruity odor that attracts sap-feeding beetles and other insects. As the beetles feed on the spore mats, spores often accumulate on the surface of their bodies. Sap that forms at the surface of pruning cuts made in spring or early summer may attract sap-feeding beetles that may have been previously feeding on an oak wilt infested tree. As the beetles feed on the sap of the pruning cut, fungal spores get into the fresh wound, infecting the tree. Pruning oak trees in winter greatly reduces the risk of an oak wilt infection, as the beetles and fungal mats are not present at that time of year. Generally do not apply a pruning paint or wound dressing to pruning cuts. The application of a pruning paint or wound dressing does not prevent wood decay and may interfere with the tree’s natural wound responses. However, oak trees are an exception to the no paint recommendation. To prevent the transmission of oak wilt, oak trees should not be pruned in spring and summer. If an oak tree needs to be pruned during the growing season, for example to correct storm damage, immediately (within 15 minutes) paint the pruning cuts with a latex house paint. There is no need to paint the pruning wounds when oaks are pruned in winter. Cut off the branch just beyond the branch collar and branch bark ridge. The branch collar is the swollen area at the base of the branch. The branch bark ridge is the dark, rough bark ridge that separates the branch from the main branch or trunk. Pruning just beyond the branch collar and branch bark ridge retains the tree’s natural defense mechanisms and promotes compartmentalization and callus formation. Do not make flush cuts when pruning trees. Flush cuts are pruning cuts made as close as possible to the trunk or main branch. They destroy the tree’s natural defense mechanisms that promote wound compartmentalization and callus formation. To prevent extensive bark damage, use a three-cut procedure when pruning branches that are greater than 1½ inches in diameter. Make the first cut 6 to 12 inches from the main branch or trunk. Cut upward and go about one-third of the way through the branch. Make the second cut 1 to 2 inches beyond the first. Saw downward from the top of the branch. As the second cut is made, the weight of the branch will cause it to break at the pivot point between the two cuts. (The initial, bottom cut prevents the branch from ripping off a large piece of bark as it breaks.) Make the final cut just beyond the branch collar and branch bark ridge.
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Coming Soon-ish To A Theater Near You It’s the first column of 2015 and that means, mostly because this is the deadest time of year for actual news, let’s take a look at ten movies I’m keeping an eye out for this year. Some of these I expect to be good, and I might be disappointed. Others I expect to be bad, but I might be surprised. Either way, I’ll be keeping tabs on them throughout the year.
Strange Magic It’s strangely appropriate that the first Lucasfilm movie to be released after being acquired by Disney will be a CGI animated musical. Though far from the most anticipated Lucasfilm movie this year, “Strange Magic” is George Lucas’ adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Jupiter Ascending A wolf-human hybrid from space has to protect Mila Kunis from a galactic empire bent on using Earth as leverage in their royal in-fighting. I love sci-fi. “Jupiter Ascending” is the first original screenplay from the Wachowskis since their Matrix trilogy and it looks like they’ve pulled out all the stops on the way to crazy town. Good or bad, this movie is going to be spectacular to watch.
rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Mad Max: Fury Road After more than a decade of delays, George Miller is finally bringing Mad Max back to the big screen. Really, there are only two things you need to know about this movie. The first is that, instead of a script, this movie was plotted with 3,500 storyboard panels. The narrative is so visually focused that Miller wants foreign audiences to be able to follow it without subtitles. The second is that the continuous chase sequence that makes up most of the movie includes a section with a tornado made of fire. What more do you want? Jurassic World If at first you don’t succeed, and aren’t eaten by dinosaurs, try and try again. Twenty-two years after coming to the conclusion that playing god to build a dinosaur theme park was a bad idea, “Jurassic World” features a dinosaur theme park filled with researchers that are still playing god. This time around the big danger is a genetically modified hyper intelligent dinosaur. So we’re combining the plots of “Jaws 3” and “Deep Blue Sea” into one flick. It’s pretty ironic that the producers of Jurassic World decided to make a movie about what happens when you don’t learn from past mistakes, but at least it’ll have Chris Pratt and his team of raptor sidekicks.
Avengers: Age of Ultron I’m not expecting the second Avengers movie to have quite the same impact that the first one did. The first movie was really the climax of a story set-up by the three movies preceding it. The movies in Marvel’s Phase Two Terminator Genisys don’t have that kind of connectivity. It’s a stupid name. “Iron Man 3,” “Captain America: Win- There’s no reason to expect anything ter Soldier,” “Thor: The Dark World,” good from a Terminator movie these and “Guardians of the Galaxy” don’t tie days. The third one bordered on parody into each other like the previous films and the fourth was more boring than a did. movie about the robot apocalypse had So instead of “Avengers: Age of Ul- any right to be. tron” being the climax of a bigger story, And right off the bat, the first impression made by the fifth installment it’s just going to be an Avengers story. That’s a good thing. is that it can’t even spell ‘genesis’ cor I’m excited to see what Joss Whedon rectly. can do with the Avengers in a story that 1But then 8:46 the trailer hit, and 5x12KA_Reporter2014YrReview.qxp_Layout 1/2/15 AM Page 1 while Ardoesn’t have to tie-in so tightly with the nold Schwarzenegger is looking pretty
worn out for an immortal killing machine, I have to admit I was impressed. It’s like the first two movies were put in a blender, so while we may not be covering new ground, at least we’ll get some of James Cameron’s greatest hits.
Ant-Man “Ant-Man” is a new challenge for Marvel Studios. Unlike their other Phase Two movies, which were all created from the ground up to be part of the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Ant-Man” is something of a relic. Edgar Wright began development on the movie in 2003, long before the idea of a single movie continuity was even considered possible. The project has been in and out of development since then, with Marvel Studios desperately trying to find a place for it. Last year, Wright left the project due to creative differences. It’s never a good sign when the director leaves a project, particularly one who has been so closely involved in the movie for so long. We’ll never see what Edgar Wright had intended for his “Ant-Man” film. Instead, we’ll be getting the remains of his work, hastily stitched together and supplemented by new director Peyton Reed and acted out by a cast who suddenly found themselves in a different movie than the one they signed up for. None of this means that the movie will be bad, but it is, there will be no shortage of reasons why. Fantastic Four Speaking of movies that have me worried, every time I hear something new about Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot, I lose a little more faith. The most recent strike against the film is that its version of Doctor Doom will feature the villain as an anti-social computer programmer who uses “Doom” as his online handle. Keep in mind that, thanks to North Korea, the concept of Doctor Doom as the tyrannical leader of a rogue nation that worships him as a god is actually more realistic today than it was in the 60s. Talk about a missed opportunity. Since so little has actually been shown of the movie, I’m holding out
hope that the infuriating tidbits that occasionally get leaked are actually part of an elaborate prank from Josh Trank. Spectre James Bond isn’t the only one returning in the fourth film of the Daniel Craig era. When we left Bond at the end of “Skyfall” the franchise had come nearly full circle, looking very much like it did when Sean Connery walked into M’s office in “Dr. No.” “Spectre” looks to be continuing down that nostalgia train by re-introducing the Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion. The Daniel Craig bond films have taken an interesting turn. First doing everything they can to distance themselves from the tropes that the franchise became known for, now it seems the films are intent on embracing them.
as the prequel movies, but those movies shouldn’t be the bar it’s judged by. If you liked what Abrams did with the Star Trek movies, this will probably be more of that. If not, at least there’s still “Star Wars: Rebels.” Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and will see you at the movies.
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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I wanted to be optimistic about Episode VII, but J.J. Abrams couldn’t even put together a thirty second teaser without using shaky cam and lens flare, so I don’t have much hope that the rest of the movie will stay true to the cinematic style of the original trilogy. I know that, at the end of the day, Episode VII probably won’t be as bad
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