series of holes in maple tree trunk

tenacre

9 years ago

.
See picture.

I was horrified to discover this damage to one of my favorite trees.

Is this caused by a woodpecker? Or a boring insect of some sort??

Sugar Maple. Holes are 30" above ground. Tree girth is 25" at that height.

This post was edited by tenacre on Fri, Jul 11, 14 at 21:50

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Comments (8)

lazy_gardens
9 years ago
The infamous "Yellowbellied sapsucker" has struck. They drill the holes and drink the sap as well as eat insects attracted to the sap leaking out.

It seldom damages the tree.

Here is a link that might be useful: Google images of sapsucker damage
lazy_gardens
9 years ago
Adding ... they drill "test holes" to find trees that taste right and repeatedly visit those trees.

It looks like yours was not tasty enough, because they drill LOTS of holes when they like the tree.
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tenacre
Original Author
9 years ago
.

Is there any way to chase the woodpecker away or discourage it from pecking at this particular tree?

.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
they did NOT say it was a woodpecker

ken
gardener365
9 years ago
They are woodpeckers and could be just about any species of them.

I had many more holes in a Korean pine a few years ago and in different places on all sides and heights of the trunk. I decided to cover all the areas with Doc Farwell's tree seal & it worked on the assumption that whichever woodpecker was attracted to that (and a Pinus densiflora was also struck) ...... that they would not care for the taste of the product. I used DF's grafting seal because that's what I had on my shelf. There are tree sealants made by Doc Farwell's, as well. I'd paint a swath 6" above and below those holes should you choose my route. Normally, sealants are discouraged but there was nothing else I could come up with.

Dax
whaas_5a
9 years ago
Thats a good idea to discourage em. Not like you can run out there on that piece of land to keep the birds away.

I had one that kept drilling away at my wood siding at my old house. After finding the damage I'd listen closing then pound as hard as I could on the wall without punching it through right in the area it was. Scared the thing away after a couple visits.
mikebotann
9 years ago
I have those Sapsuckers. They look like a small Pileated Woodpecker, aka Flicker. They have done a lot of damage to my garden. They have killed one deodara, one blue Spanish Pin Fir, several rhododendrons, two weeping Sequoiadendrons, and a third is on it's way out. For some odd reason, they don't bother a species Sequoiadendron.
Take a look at the one that's on it's way out.
calliope
9 years ago
Yellow bellied sapsuckers and flickers are woodpeckers Ken. A beautifully symmetrical horizontal pattern does indeed suggest sapsucker damage.