Mistletoe in Americus

At the Americus Garden Inn Bed and Breakfast, we have quite a variety of plants that we have intentionally planted. Mistletoe is not one of those plants. A guest alerted us to the mistletoe in the parrotia tree and the need to address it. Mistletoe has been romanticized during Christmas for centuries. However, research leads one to realize that, like a romance novel, its romantic qualities are fictional. It is a parasitic plant which can weaken and/or kill the tree it inhabits. Thanks for allowing me to share what I learned and feel free to share your comments.

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People & Blogs

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• Americus
• Americus Garden Inn
• mistletoe
• parrotia
• parasitic plant
• mistletoe in tree

[americusgardeninn]

@blkfrhwk Thanks for writing. I was told that we should cut off the affected limbs, but, as you can see in the video, that would mean removing most of the tree as the mistletoe is coming out of the trunk. So, we are simply going to trim the mistletoe that we can see and continue to trim it as it reappears. As always, thank you for your insights!

[blkfrhwk]

it's more of a semi-parasite. it makes its own food, but takes water from the host. it acts as a natural pruning agent for unhealthy limbs. out this way, we have several different species. i've seen people do more damage to their trees trying to remove the mistletoe than the mistletoe itself would have done.