Toomer's Corner oaks showing encouraging signs, leaf growth throughout canopy ...
AUBURN, Alabama -- The spring has produced encouraging signs of life in the two historic live oak trees at Toomer's Corner , but Auburn horticulturists say more tests are needed to determine whether the powerful herbicide used to poison the trees has dissipated.
Gary Keever , the Auburn horticulturist who is leading the team of scientists working on the trees, strapped into bucket lift early Wednesday to get a birds-eye view of the two trees.
Police allege that Harvey Updyke laced the trees with Spike 80df, a potent herbicide that has made the trees appear gnarled and sickly.
Keever said the early assesment of the trees was positive. There is foliage growth over the entire canopy, and fresh, healthy shoots are growing. Leafs no longer show the visible signs of poison that were present last year. However, there are also many dead limbs that must be pruned, and soil tests are pending.
"That will give us an idea of how much herbicide might still be in the beds and also in the foliage of the trees," Keever said.
This spring, she and her customers saw what seemed to be a typical number of migrating birds stopping at the island's bird sanctuary on the way from Central America to points north, she said. Enlarge Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune CHRIS GRANGER