Well that was some hot spell! Even out near the coast it was 100 degrees most of Saturday June 26, 110 degrees all afternoon on Sunday and still 90 after dark. Fellow tree farmers Greg and Sue Pattillo both noticed a sweet pitchy smell on Sunday which turned out to be the new growth on both their reprod and large trees cooking. It appears that much of their new growth is fried brown and needle fall, especially on the hemlock and cedar, is already happening so that it looks like much of the area has been sprayed with herbicide. Further inland in SW Washington Bryon and Donna Loucks are seeing damage on last year's needles more than the new growth. Serious burning occurred on some noble firs, but most were okay. Last year's needles are brown on some Douglas-fir, especially on trees exposed to direct sun, and they fall off with a touch, so soon they may be looking pretty sparse. Even Valley ponderosa pine and western red cedar are showing dead needles.
So how about you? Did your trees suffer heat damage? If so, we’d love to collect some stories and pictures about these impacts for future reference and to track whether or not this event had significant ramifications for our future.
