Masks

and Trees

It is not my job to decide for you.

But it is my job to give you as much informed consent as I am able.

There have been many debates about masks for COVID.

Most of the naysayers get drowned out, yelled at, censured or ostracized.

That is not a fair fight.

So I don’t fight.

I let everyone decide for themselves.

If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. You are not harming anyone else.

But are you harming yourself?

https://brownstone.org/articles/the-foegen-effect-how-mask-wearing-can-make-you-sick/

You should read the link above.

Then you decide for yourself.

But please do not decide for others.

There is still a healthy debate to be had.

Time will tell…

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What I do wish was that masks would have protected the large Elm tree in my backyard. It’s been growing for about 12-15 years.

It’s been a great shade tree. But at some point last year those pesky lantern flies attacked the tree. Then a storm took down about 1/3 of the tree.

We had a tree surgeon look at the tree. Since we did not have tree health insurance he said he couldn’t save it. He said we should have vaccinated the tree a few years ago…..

I said I did not think that would work. I didn’t like the biased data that he showed me about vaccinating the tree.

I asked for other options.

The tree surgeon then said we should have masked the tree.

I said I did not believe that masking a tree would help.

I asked for other options.

The tree surgeon said we should have socially distanced the Elm tree from all the other trees. I told him that the Elm was a very social tree and played nicely with all the other trees, birds and squirrels. The Elm would have risked great harm to avoid all the other trees. In fact a tree down the block from me was isolated and looked kind of sad. I think they said it was a Weeping Willow???

Well today the tree had to come down.

What took 12-15 years to grow took about 30 minutes to come down.

BEFORE

Almost After

I don’t have the final pic but there is nothing left, even the stump was ground down.

But everything will be fine again.

I found another option for our other trees to protect them against the lantern flies.

And we have a new baby tree, a dogwood just getting started.

What does this have to do with health?

If I had known the early warning signs of the harm the lantern flies were doing, I could have treated the tree much earlier and saved it. But I did not and I learned a painful and expensive lesson.

Now I will do my best to have a tree doctor advise me on an annual basis how to better care for the trees in my yard to protect them from whatever may harm them.

A little prevention can go a long way, if you are aware.

I am now aware.

This was a tough learning experience.