Mistletoe Death

[Billhook]

We have had this sprig of Mistletoe on a Poplar for maybe forty years.  The tree seems healthy.

Does Mistletoe have a certain lifespan?

I remember my father trying to put Mistletoe around the farm.  He read up about the method and went around a load of different trees but this was the only one that grew.  I think that he read that there was a line from the Wash to the Severn Estuary above which it was rarely found.  Anyone know any more?

Perhaps a couple sneaked down at Christmas and had a snog under it and gave it the virus!

Edited February 1, 2021 by Billhook
spelling

[Khriss]

Think the seeds have to go thru a birds bum first ,  K

[Doug Tait]

I understood that birds wiping the stickiness off of their beaks after eating berries could spread it too, is that wrong?

[gary112]

Just now, Doug Tait said:

I understood that birds wiping the stickiness off of their beaks after eating berries could spread it too, is that wrong?

This is true,the seed from the middle of the white berry transplants in a crevice in the bark and away it grows,my dad used to do it in the spring usually,make a nick in the bark with his pocket knife and squash a couple berries into it and tie a bit of rag round it,not always successful but works pretty often

[Billhook]

23 minutes ago, gary112 said:

This is true,the seed from the middle of the white berry transplants in a crevice in the bark and away it grows,my dad used to do it in the spring usually,make a nick in the bark with his pocket knife and squash a couple berries into it and tie a bit of rag round it,not always successful but works pretty often

Exactly what my father did forty years ago with success.  I was just wondering if the Mistletoe has a lifespan shorter than the tree.

He planted some bamboo in a wet area which lasted for thirty years ever increasing until one year the whole lot suddenly died for no obvious reason.

Could Mistletoe be the same?

And why is it so difficult to grow above the line between the Wash and the Severn?

[openspaceman]

12 minutes ago, Billhook said:

He planted some bamboo in a wet area which lasted for thirty years ever increasing until one year the whole lot suddenly died for no obvious reason.

I have read that a bamboo variety grows for a number of years then flowers and dies, don't know about mistletoe but see

 

Distribution maps – Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland

BSBI.ORG

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Type in the name of a plant species to generate a BSBI map showing distribution in Britain & Ireland and changes over time.

 

I read it was birds wiping it off beaks too.

[PeteB]

I tried grafting and not one sprig took!

[daveatdave]

I under stand it needs to come from the same type of tree to propagate i.e. the seed as apple to apple, pop to pop 

[Billhook]

7 hours ago, daveatdave said:

I under stand it needs to come from the same type of tree to propagate i.e. the seed as apple to apple, pop to pop 

That is interesting.  I know my father spent a lot of time finding different sprigs ,some from his brother's farm in Norfolk, and also went around with his pocket knife trying different methods, sometimes lifting bark and binding it, other times just shoving it into a small gap, but the secret may be having to pass though a bird to start the process.  He just was perplexed by his brother in laws garden in the South where it grows like a weed and is treated like one as it seems to overwhelm some trees.

[Billhook]

WWW.WOODLANDTRUST.ORG.UK

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