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Sep 23, 2007 9:31 am US/Eastern
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Pests And Drought Damage Trees
by Alex DeMetrick
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
When the weather feels like fall, people start looking for colorful foliage, but this year's drought means we'll all have to look fast when the leaves change.
Alex DeMetrick reports a summer of drought in Maryland is now flaring into autumn and trees are feeling the burn.
"The drought will impact your smaller trees, your seedling and your saplings because they have smaller root systems and can handle the stress less," said Kenneth Jolly of the Department of Natural Resources.
You can spot that stress on streets in Baltimore where young trees are struggling and even some mature trees are barely hanging on.
And across the state, pines, which develop in the summer, are being hit very hard.
Dry conditions have already produced an unusual summer fire season in Maryland.
The drought means trees will still blaze with color, but this fall it will happen early and leaves will fall fast.
"So the sooner that the leaves fall off the trees, the earlier our fire season begins and the more intense they can be," said Jolly.
Many trees stressed by the drought had a double dose of bad luck this year. The first hit came this spring with a massive gypsy moth outbreak.
"Sweep them off the sidewalks, and they crawl right back on the sidewalks. Five or 10 minutes later they were up on the side of the building, and they were all over the trees. The leaves were just falling shredded from the trees," said Baltimore resident Mike Richardson.
Then the drought took hold.
"Whenever trees are under a double stress of defoliation from insect pests plus drought, the chances for mortality are much more increased," said Jolly.
Baltimore has two-and-a-half million trees, but in drought, that filtering is reduced.
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