Something is attacking my trees/ bushes

[Parshooter]

I have noticed that some of my trees are looking sickly this spring. The leaves are sparse and there seems to be patches where the bark is chewed up? Then I noticed today that a bush that has been great for about ten years looks like it may be dying, so with closer inspection I found this...

Anyone with tree/ gardener experience? Any ideas who to contact?

 

[thomfantomas]

looks to be the works of that damn chupacabra

 

[rdc]

Thylacine.

 

[fivepointstar]

looks diseased.....tree herpes

 

[SKIP]

It looks like bird activity and looking for bark borers.

 

[Parshooter]

Mrs. Par is at work keeping us safe and sent me a link about yellow bellied sapsuckers. The last sentence says it's useless to shoot 'em...drat...

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/howtos/ht_sap/sap.htm

 

[Threeband]

Definitely chupacabras.

 

[Overboost44]

Mrs. Par is at work keeping us safe and sent me a link about yellow bellied sapsuckers. The last sentence says it's useless to shoot 'em...drat...

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/howtos/ht_sap/sap.htm

Dang, she's good. We used to have them out in HoCo when I was growing up, but I have never seen tree damage like that. It looks like an exposed spine.

 

[j_h_smith]

I can't help you, but I would venture a guess that it's not good for the trees. Never seen anything like it.

Good Luck!

 

[outrider58]

Some type of cambium eating beetle or larva. Go to your local nursery and show them pics and ask for a remedy.

 

[j_h_smith]

Looks to me that this is what's happening to your tree.

http://golfgal.hubpages.com/hub/That-Darn-Woodpecker-is-Killing-My-Tree-Tree-Damage-from-Woodpeckers

 

[Jim12]

That routine, geometric pattern of destruction is bizarre. Never seen anything like that. Please let us know what you find out from a horticulturist.

 

[HarCo2ANewb]

I've never seen sapsuckers go to that level of damage before. They will cover a tree in rings of holes about 1/4" but they size of the holes in your bush makes me believe that it was more than the birds. If I had to guess, I would say the sapsuckers created their normal small holes and then a disease took advantage and used them as a point of attack.

Edit-could be totally wrong: This was what I was used to:

But clearly they do worse than that:

 

[Threeband]

I'll bet shooting them would be pretty damn effective.
They don't look so tough.


The guy who says it's ineffective to shoot them probably says the same thing about muggers and looters. "Just give them what they want; there's nothing you can do about it anyway. Just give them space to destroy..."

 

[Parshooter]

I'll bet shooting them would be pretty damn effective.
They don't look so tough.



I like it- think I may go find a pellet rifle. Suppressed 22 would be fun, but safety first, no berm behind the property

Edit: I was kidding, but that didn't show up- usually try to be more careful with posts...

 

[Threeband]

I think a 12 gauge would be more in the spirit of things.

Just be aware, those little suckers are under Federal Protection, so shooting them is illegal as hell.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Federal regulations promulgated under its authority prohibit shooting of sapsuckers.

Of course, that's what they say about looters...

 

[Fox123]

 

[Mr. Ed]

I highly recommend Bartlett Tree experts

I've used them for many years, and they really know their stuff. Probably not the cheapest, but they have saved several 100 year old oak and ash trees on my property. Sometimes you gotta pay for knowledge.

 

[Mr H]

That routine, geometric pattern of destruction is bizarre. Never seen anything like that. Please let us know what you find out from a horticulturist.

Agree...

Sapsuckers make holes in lines, but I've never seen that pattern before.

Pileated WPs make rectangular nest holes, but not that I'm aware of for feeding.

Anything else is pretty much random AFAIK. Very odd.

 

[Mr H]

I've never seen sapsuckers go to that level of damage before.

But clearly they do worse than that:

Wow... Thanks for the learnin'!!