Large Tree Removed on #9

[Peter Bures]

Played a round in the nice weather today, only to see this on hole #9-








So that's the main guardian tree, just completely gone. I don't suppose it changes how the hole is played, but it definitely makes it easier.

Thoughts?

[AdamC]

Yeah, I saw that as well the other week when I was out there.  I wasn't sure why it was removed either, since it didn't look dead. 

[otter]

Kinda funny.  I played my 1st ever round at SMP a few weeks ago and that tree still stood.  I returned for my 2nd ever round the following week and it was lying in large freshly cut chunks...still trying to guard the basket.

[TPalmer]

Strange.  Yeah, not sure why that was cut down.  It certainly looked alive the last time I played there but perhaps the SMP arborists know more than I.

[The Bird Father]

The parks dept's have been removing all the trees with the infection or bug or whatever is happening to all of them, same as PC.  It's the only way to get rid of the pest right now.

[Tom]

The pines are dieing from pine wilt. 

Pine wilt is caused by a plant parasitic nematode referred to as the pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus.  The nematode is vectored by pine sawyers of the genus Monochamus and kills the tree by feeding and reproducing in the resin canals of the branch and trunk.  The pine wood nematode was first reported in the United States in 1931 but was not recognized till 1979 in Missouri on Scots pine as a pathogen.  Following the discovery in Missouri, the disease was discovered in southeast Kansas the same year.

[Bill the TD]

That is a very impressive post.  Thanks for the info.

[jamidanger]

 Most plant-parasitic nematodes are associated with plant roots, but the pine wood nematode is found in aboveground parts of the tree. Nematodes kill the tree by feeding on the cells surrounding the resin ducts. This causes resin to leak into the tracheids, resulting in "tracheid cavitation" or air pockets in the water transport system. Just as a person cannot drink through a straw with holes in it, the tree cannot move water upward and consequently wilts and dies.