Seems to be a significant increase in the stuff around here over the last
decade. Used to be quite rare but now it's everywhere you look on all sorts
of trees. Even on small Rowans in the central reservation of a local road.
What's the experience of others?

"Bob Hobden" wrote in
:

Seems to be a significant increase in the stuff around here over the
last decade. Used to be quite rare but now it's everywhere you look on
all sorts of trees. Even on small Rowans in the central reservation of
a local road. What's the experience of others?



I have never seen Mistletoe until a few weeks ago, it was pointed out to
me. It is on a couple of trees nearby. I am not into what type of tree, but
they both look the same. If I had to guess, I would say Birch trees.
I know its a parasite.

Baz

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:42:11 +0000, Baz wrote:

I know its a parasite.

Is it? I thought it was an epiphyte.

On Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:58:45 +0000, Derek Turner wrote:

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:42:11 +0000, Baz wrote:

I know its a parasite.

Is it? I thought it was an epiphyte.

fx: consults Wiki

It's an obligate hemi-parasite, apparently: somewhere between the two!

Derek Turner wrote in news:ahmqvoF4rh4U2
@mid.individual.net:

On Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:58:45 +0000, Derek Turner wrote:

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:42:11 +0000, Baz wrote:

I know its a parasite.

Is it? I thought it was an epiphyte.

fx: consults Wiki

It's an obligate hemi-parasite, apparently: somewhere between the two!


NO. It is a parasite. It extracts nutrients from it's host in order to
grow, and gives nothing in return.

Baz

"Baz" wrote ...

Derek Turner wrote
On Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:58:45 +0000, Derek Turner wrote:

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:42:11 +0000, Baz wrote:

I know its a parasite.

Is it? I thought it was an epiphyte.

fx: consults Wiki

It's an obligate hemi-parasite, apparently: somewhere between the two!


NO. It is a parasite. It extracts nutrients from it's host in order to
grow, and gives nothing in return.


It does extract water and nutrients from it's host but it also has green
leaves which photosynthesise so it's not a true parasite like, say, a birds
nest orchid as it does make some of it's own food.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On 27/11/2012 17:12, Bob Hobden wrote:
Seems to be a significant increase in the stuff around here over the
last decade. Used to be quite rare but now it's everywhere you look on
all sorts of trees. Even on small Rowans in the central reservation of a
local road. What's the experience of others?

Yep, trees that used to have the odd patch are now covered in the stuff.
Didn't see too many berries last winter though

In message , Bob Hobden
writes
Seems to be a significant increase in the stuff around here over the
last decade. Used to be quite rare but now it's everywhere you look on
all sorts of trees. Even on small Rowans in the central reservation of
a local road. What's the experience of others?

Mistletoe is fairly local. It seems to be most commonly found in chalk
country. There used to be a concentration in orchards in the
Gloucestershire/Herefordshire/Worcestershire area, but recent records
from that area are relatively scarce.

The last mistletoe I saw wild was in Coventry a quarter of century ago.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

"Stewart Robert Hinsley" wrote ...

Bob Hobden writes
Seems to be a significant increase in the stuff around here over the last
decade. Used to be quite rare but now it's everywhere you look on all
sorts of trees. Even on small Rowans in the central reservation of a local
road. What's the experience of others?

Mistletoe is fairly local. It seems to be most commonly found in chalk
country. There used to be a concentration in orchards in the
Gloucestershire/Herefordshire/Worcestershire area, but recent records from
that area are relatively scarce.

The last mistletoe I saw wild was in Coventry a quarter of century ago.

When I'm feeling a bit better, got that persistent cough/cold that's going
about, I'll take some photos around this area so you can see what I'm on
about. Some of the trees look evergreen because there is so much mistletoe.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

"Stewart Robert Hinsley" wrote in message
...
In message , Bob Hobden
writes
Seems to be a significant increase in the stuff around here over the last
decade. Used to be quite rare but now it's everywhere you look on all
sorts of trees. Even on small Rowans in the central reservation of a local
road. What's the experience of others?

Mistletoe is fairly local. It seems to be most commonly found in chalk
country. There used to be a concentration in orchards in the
Gloucestershire/Herefordshire/Worcestershire area, but recent records from
that area are relatively scarce.

The last mistletoe I saw wild was in Coventry a quarter of century ago.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

I've never seen mistletoe growing wild here in Leics.
I have some ancient apple trees and thought about pressing a few seeds from
bought stuff into the bark but I found out that's a bad idea as most
Christmas mistletoe is imported.
I'd really like some home grown mistletoe, does anyone know how to get
berries and if I did, is there a skill to it?

Tina

Mistletoe is common in more westerly counties. In a short walk around edges of Cheltenham saw loads of the stuff, for example. So visit to collect some. Berries are showing now, I've picked them as late as March. Perhaps later picking is better as seeds are more likely to be ripe.

Cut a nick in the bark through to the wood, put seed in with some birdpoo collected from under your seed-feeder, and cross your fingers. It grows on all sorts of trees, and isn't limited to Rosaceae even. Some attempt to keep moist, perhaps with some moss tied over the top might help. Do a few seeds as not all will germinate.

"echinosum" wrote in message
...

Christina Websell;974020 Wrote:
"I've never seen mistletoe growing wild here in Leics.
I have some ancient apple trees and thought about pressing a few seeds
from
bought stuff into the bark but I found out that's a bad idea as most
Christmas mistletoe is imported.
I'd really like some home grown mistletoe, does anyone know how to get
berries and if I did, is there a skill to it?

Tina
Mistletoe is common in more westerly counties. In a short walk around
edges of Cheltenham saw loads of the stuff, for example. So visit to
collect some. Berries are showing now, I've picked them as late as
March. Perhaps later picking is better as seeds are more likely to be
ripe.

Cut a nick in the bark through to the wood, put seed in with some
birdpoo collected from under your seed-feeder, and cross your fingers.
It grows on all sorts of trees, and isn't limited to Rosaceae even. Some
attempt to keep moist, perhaps with some moss tied over the top might
help. Do a few seeds as not all will germinate.

I do not have any English mistletoe berrries. I want to get some.

"Christina Websell" wrote ...

"Stewart Robert Hinsley" wrote
Bob Hobden writes
Seems to be a significant increase in the stuff around here over the last
decade. Used to be quite rare but now it's everywhere you look on all
sorts of trees. Even on small Rowans in the central reservation of a
local road. What's the experience of others?

Mistletoe is fairly local. It seems to be most commonly found in chalk
country. There used to be a concentration in orchards in the
Gloucestershire/Herefordshire/Worcestershire area, but recent records
from that area are relatively scarce.

The last mistletoe I saw wild was in Coventry a quarter of century ago.
I've never seen mistletoe growing wild here in Leics.
I have some ancient apple trees and thought about pressing a few seeds from
bought stuff into the bark but I found out that's a bad idea as most
Christmas mistletoe is imported.
I'd really like some home grown mistletoe, does anyone know how to get
berries and if I did, is there a skill to it?

The berries are not ripe until well after Christmas, Feb/Mar time and just
need scraping off onto the top of a suitable branch. It does need light to
grow and is very slow.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On 29/11/2012 23:05, Bob Hobden wrote:
"Christina Websell" wrote ...

"Stewart Robert Hinsley" wrote
Bob Hobden writes
Seems to be a significant increase in the stuff around here over the
last decade. Used to be quite rare but now it's everywhere you look
on all sorts of trees. Even on small Rowans in the central
reservation of a local road. What's the experience of others?

Mistletoe is fairly local. It seems to be most commonly found in
chalk country. There used to be a concentration in orchards in the
Gloucestershire/Herefordshire/Worcestershire area, but recent records
from that area are relatively scarce.

The last mistletoe I saw wild was in Coventry a quarter of century ago.
I've never seen mistletoe growing wild here in Leics.
I have some ancient apple trees and thought about pressing a few seeds
from bought stuff into the bark but I found out that's a bad idea as
most Christmas mistletoe is imported.
I'd really like some home grown mistletoe, does anyone know how to get
berries and if I did, is there a skill to it?

The berries are not ripe until well after Christmas, Feb/Mar time and
just need scraping off onto the top of a suitable branch. It does need
light to grow and is very slow.
I always understood that it was variety specific, that is mistletoe from
apple would only grow on apple, where as that from poplars would only
grow on poplars and so on.
When you are on the A449 going to the Midlands from South Wales there
are loads of trees with mistletoe along the roadside.

The wikipedia article indicates that different subspecies of Viscum album are fussy about their host tree, but that you will find in UK is likely all V.album subsp album which appears to be rather catholic about its host, though it is rarely found on oak and never on conifers; other subspecies specialise in these but are not found in UK.

This page from Kew has some notes on their attempts to grow it, and it does not appear to be host specific, they got seed from one collection to grow on diverse hosts, though with a lot of failures. They seem not to have tried the birdpoo trick, and did not think nicking the bark was necessary. They note that light is essential to germination, so the birdpoo should be around but not covering the seed, and don't do the covering with moss I suggested.
Plants & Fungi: Viscum album (mistletoe) - Species profile from Kew
Sounds like I was quite lucky given their success rate.