Trees Are Hurting in the Drought, But Fall Color is Coming Very Soon

(Radio Iowa) Many of Iowa’s trees are struggling in the long-running drought. Joe Herring, a district forester with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in Iowa Falls, says some insects are causing problems with trees, and not just the emerald ash borer.

“There’s a little bug called the two-lined chestnut borer. The name should not fool you. It loves to eat burr oak tree branches from the top down,” Herring says. “We’re seeing some outbreaks of that happening because the trees are in a stressed and weakened condition from just several years in a row of drought.” Herring says fall colors should be coming into view soon, starting with a species of small tree or bush found along roadsides, called sumac.

“Some people think they’re kind of invasive because they do kind of sucker and colonize grassy areas and spread a little bit,” Herring says, “but they’re fantastic for wildlife and they’re native. Those turn very bright red. They’re really pretty.” During some drought years, the reds, yellows and oranges of fall appear more vibrantly on several species of trees in particular.

“Walnuts and cottonwoods turn yellow pretty early in the fall color season, so anytime now through the end of September, you’ll be seeing the cottonwoods and the walnuts turning yellow,” Herring says. “Of course, you get the maples and then most of our oak trees, if they’re white oak or red oak, those have great fall color.” The DNR says the peak of fall color should be during the second week of October for the northern part of the state, and the second through the fourth weeks of October in southern Iowa.

(Brian Fancher, KLMJ, Hampton)