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Lancaster Farming • Section D • Saturday, December 6,2003
Maple Producers: Farmers
Of A Different Variety
SANDRA LEPLEY “The maple producers are forester who served as a guest
orres P° n Sf ei * t dealing with several management speaker at a recent workshop.
Maple syrup prod'ucers in Somer-” including the succession of “These people are all interested
set County are farmers of a dif- t * ie!r businesses a °d homesteads [ n improving the health and
ferent variety, but their concern an{ i the succession of their for- growth of their woodlots, and
for their crop is no different than ests,” said Michael Wolf, a Cam
any other operation. bria County extension agent and
Chris and Susan Maust of Boynton in Somerset County have been in the maple pro
ducing business for the past several years. Here, they show Michael Wolf, a cooperative
extension agent from Cambria County, how tubing saves time and energy in the collec
tion of sugar water.
Growing Trees A Tough Job
LINDA WILLIAMS With at least 58 acres in fir, rain, we thought everything was
Bedford Co. Correspondent spruces, and pines, Bussard mar- going smoothly, when the hurri-
BEDFORD VALLEY (Bed- kets his trees wherever he can cane hit. We lost trees and had to
ford Co.) Sam Bussard and and f mds wor( j 0 f mou th j s the go out and stake them back up.”
ESi k . A constantly growing deer popu-
Christmas and apple, challenging Lots of P eo P le .8° into busi ; lat,on caused a b 'g expense with
but a challenge they love. ness reading Christmas trees,” the installation of fencing.
Learning the Christmas trade he said. “But only a few last. You “Christmas trees need
from his father' Sam Bussard has bave t 0 bo P e y° u bnd tbe * atter - trimmed during the hottest
been raising Christmas trees You are at the mercy of Moth- months of the year,” Bussard
since the early 1950 s and he finds er Nature. “Years of drought said. “We fight bugs and humidi
being successful takes experience caused us to lose a lot of trees,
and a lot of hard work. This year, with more then ample
Tu
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Tall maple timbers are high above a group of Somerset
County maple producers who recently attended a work
shop about maple production. Here, Michael Wolf, a Cam
bria County Cooperative Extension agent as well as a re
gional forester, shows some Somerset County maple
producers how to manage their sugar tree woodlots dur
ing an informal workshop at the Chris and Susan Maust
farm near Boynton. Wolf shows how a smaller tree is just
as old as a larger, more dominant tree.
Photos by Sandra Lepley, Somerset Co. Correspondent.
Christmas Tree Growers Learn
Of New Threat To Douglas Fir
CHARLENE M. SHUPP
ESPENSHADE
Lancaster Farming Staff
LEESPORT (Berks Co.) At
a recent meeting of the Southeast
Christmas Tree Growers, a new
pest infestation was brought to
light in Pennsylvania: the Doug
las fir needle midge.
More than 50 tree growers
gathered at the Berks County Ag
Center, Leesport, for the meeting.
Rayanne Lehman, entomolo
gist for the Pennsylvania Depart
ment of Agriculture (PDA),
spoke about this latest pest, what
PDA is doing to help growers,
and what to look for to identify it
ft
in comparison to other pests.
Douglas fir needle midge was
confirmed in Pennsylvania in
2002. After its initial detection in
Lehigh and Northumberland
Counties, PDA began a monitor
ing program in 2003. This year.
PDA has detected the needle
midge in Berks, Bucks, Chester.
Dauphin, Lehigh, Montgomery,
Northampton, Northumberland,
Schuylkill, and York counties.
Other states that have confirmed
needle midge include New York,
New Jersey, and Michigan.
As for its arrival in Pennsvlva-
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