Hey guys!
Last week I went to the Marchfeld Kanal in the border of Vienna and Lower Austria to find trees with mistletoes on it, I did find some and this is my topic for today. Sometimes, I remember seeing some of these on the trees at the Wasserpark parallel to the Danube River at the Viennese 21st District. They were attacking huge old trees in the park and some already died that the city admins ordered to cut down those have dried-off.
These images were taken on a very cloudy day with a smartphone so please excuse the dark photos.
There are so many beliefs surrounding the mistletoes, others said that it is a symbol of respect, love and fertility. During Christmas time, homes were adorned with a bunch of mistletoes and that every woman who passed below it will get a kiss from her prince charming, will be married, get kids and they will live happily ever after.
The truth about Mistletoes....
The truth behind mistletoes is that... these are parasitic plunderers that sip the water and nutrients of the host trees and kill them in a matter of years. Its beginning were attributed to birds that eat the berries of these parasites and when these birds make a poo , they release the seeds that land on trees. The seeds will then germinate at a certain time and will start growing in Spring when the weather condition suits these seeds. Mostly seeds also are blown away and land on trees.
These parasites grow is abundance in Australia.....these parasites are becoming a huge problem there because of heavy infestation on trees.
Heavy infestations of Mistletoe (Amyema app.) are contributing to death or poor health of important shade, shelter and fodder trees throughout our area. Some trees carry Mistletoe loads of 20+ per tree and Mistletoe loads of 10+ per tree are common. Trees with heavy Mistletoe load (and there seems to be a tree size/ Mistletoe load factor at work here) have been observed to die within a few years.
Source.
Although mistletoe has a bad reputation as tree killers, they also contribute to the wildlife population in the area. A book by Dr. David Watson (ecologist) Mistletoes of Southern Australia explains that.....
The succulent leaves of mistletoes provide valuable nutrients for a wide variety of our invertebrate friends, including beetles, spiders, caterpillars, moths and butterflies. In fact twenty-three butterfly species depend on mistletoe as principal food plants.
A fascinating article on mistletoe by Dr. David Watson can be read here.
Contra-productive trait of mistletoes..
If I would analyze it, if they have sipped all the nutrients and water of the host tree, it also means it is their end ....if you see the images below, the tree is dying and so is the end of mistletoes attached to the bark.
And even if these parasites have died off the tree, they have already spread their seeds to other trees long before their extinction from the dead tree thru the berries eaten by birds and other insects...and the cycle begins again!
