Dear Editor,
It’s high time to renew the battle against the invasive noxious weed known as the Manitoba maple. If you have them growing near your foundation, they are eating the stone work, and destroying your house from the bottom up. If you have them overhanging your roof, they will damage shingles or metal roofs. If they’re touching the roof, get busy and trim them back, or prepare to have roof damage in the next ice or wind storm. You have a choice; Manitoba maple, or a house.
Manitoba maples were imported to this area about 100 years ago, one of the worst ideas in recent history. If you need fast-growing shade trees, twenty feet to the south of your house, they will do that. But soon, they will overextend their structural integrity, and snap or sag into power lines, roofs, or outbuildings. Actually, I don’t know any tree that’s good to have right against the foundation, or overhanging the roof, but a Manitoba maple is the worst. Once they are established, they are very difficult to kill off. I’ve heard of and tried sawing the trunk down close to the ground, then cross-hatching it, and pouring Epsom salts into the open wound. It seems to slow them down, but they will spring back, so be prepared for an ongoing battle. Join the fight against a noxious weed, cosplaying as a tree.
Robert Wills, Thorne and Shawville
