Wooden Lace

  Lace is an openwork fabric.  Silk or cotton (usually) thread, is looped or woven into intricate designs making a delicate cloth..(again..usually). Wooden Lace is an openwork design cut into wood and used in making fine furniture.  It is called fretwork.  Sometimes my definitions are a bit skewed.  I can find the oddest things here on the Bayou.  This time, Mark and Son were cutting down a dead hickory tree to be used as firewood. The tree stood right next to the lane making me a bit antsy that it might fall atop some visitor's vehicle so it just had to go.  After the initial felling of the tree, I was able to examine the old stump.  Where I occasionally find critters, I found lace...wooden lace!  This "lace" was the remains of the inner core of the tree that had been riddled by some sort of bugs. The insects, themselves, were long gone much like the heart of the tree.  

  A lot of our trees are still showing damage brought on by hurricanes of the past..specifically Hurricane Katrina.  The winds twisted and turned the trees until enough damage was done to allow wood borers to enter.  Now, years and years later, a tree will suddenly die from no apparent reason.  If the tree is cut, like this one, the evidence of the borers and their larvae becomes obvious.  The entire heart of the tree is gnawed into a lacy pulp as the larvae create galleries or tunnels.  Sad to say, this kills the tree.  We are losing more trees each year.  

  Equally sad to say, there is not a lot we can do about the damage occurring to our trees.  The borers go unnoticed until the damage is done and then it is too late.  Spraying with a chemical insecticide could possibly kill the adults that live on the outside of the tree but the larvae are working on the inside. Plus, spraying an the entire acreage of woods is not feasible and could possibly do more damage than good.  Not only would the chemicals kill the borers but any animal or insect that happens to be in the way of the spray.  An occasional tree is the debt we pay to allow our critter friends to live.  As much as I hate seeing dying trees, wiping out all the critters in the woods is not the answer.  I do not know what is.....