June 25, 2009 - Dennis Chapman has been around cattle, horses and agriculture all his life. His experience is evident in the way he and his wife Karol have maintained the Chapman Ranch, near Georgetown, that he purchased 10 years ago. Surrounded by encroaching development on each side, Chapman works his land for the benefit of cattle and the grass that they eat.
He runs Angus cattle, all of them first or second-calf heifers.
“I have one old cow that raised a $700 calf last year,” he said. “She’s carrying what might be a $600 calf this year, but you can’t get too sentimental about these old cattle.”
Chapman recently hosted a Weed and Brush Control Tour on his ranch, where test plots run primarily with Dow AgroSciences products were highlighted. Tuffy Loftin, a market development specialist with Dow, complimented Chapman on the way he has maintained the ranch.
“He’s done a great job with this land,” Loftin said. “He’s a good steward of the land. You can see from these plots what happens if you don’t spray at all. You end up with a lot of undesirable plants. It’s all about the grass.”
In addition to the usual list of suspects included in most discussions of brush control, the Chapman Ranch is battling another persistent invader, Texas Persimmon trees.
Bob Whitney, Texas AgriLife Extension agent for Williamson County, said he was surprised when people began asking him what to do about persimmon trees on their land. He thought they were talking about the American Persimmon, or common persimmon, which is native to the Eastern United States.
“This isn’t what most people think of as persimmons,” he said. “My first thought was that the soil here wouldn’t support persimmons, but this is the Texas Persimmon tree. It’s a whole different creature.”
Texas Persimmon is listed as an evergreen shrub that grows from six to 10 feet tall over the western two-thirds of the state. It is most common in South Texas and the Edwards Plateau.
Persimmon is of the same genus as ebony, a classic hardwood, but is most commonly used today in the manufacture of pool cues. For many years, it was the wood-of-choice for golf clubs until the industry went to the metal woods in the 1990s. Deer feed off the leaves and fruit, and birds are fond of the fruit. Livestock will occasionally browse it.
Whitney doesn’t recommend cultivating it.
“Texas persimmon, once it gets started, might be tougher to get rid of than mesquite,” he said. “It’s one of the toughest trees around.”
Using a backpack sprayer with the chemical combination and a blue dye to make it easy to see where the spray has been applied, Pedro Carlucci of Dow AgroSciences sprayed the stump of an already-dead tree to demonstrate how it’s done.
Carlucci recommended waiting at least a year before removing the dead tree, in case it has a notion to resprout.
“Besides, it’s good to see the tree suffer like that,” he said.
Persimmon isn’t the only brushy invader threatening Central Texas, Whitney said. The notorious invader and water thief salt cedar has been found on Lake Georgetown, and oak trees are suffering from hypoxylon canker.
Along with the more well-known oak wilt, the canker is dealing oak trees in the region a double whammy. The disease attacks trees stressed by drought or other factors.
“It’s generally not a problem in healthy trees,” Whitney said. “The fungus gets into stressed trees through wounds in the tree, and from there into the sapwood.”
The canker works on the layers of wood that hold a tree in place, which causes loose pieces of bark to fall from the tree as it dies. Fungal spores are blown from one tree to another, which helps spread the disease.
“If you have trees in a place where you can water them, it will help,” Whitney said. “Otherwise, you just have to hope that the drought breaks soon.”
