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| Hi,
We have several pepper trees near our house. They all show signs of disease/pest; but we don't what the problem is. It is like lots of little holes in the bark in a symmetrical pattern (see photos.) Any advice would be greatly appreciated! S |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| More pictures of problem |
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| More pictures of problem |
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| More pictures of problem |
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| As you can see in the pictures, it is not a natural growth pattern. The leaves seem sparse and the tree seems weakened by the condition. I've already had to cut 3 of the peppers down, but I would really like to save the rest. Please help! Thanks, |
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| Hi kokosnood, Looks like your tree has been chosen by acorn woodpeckers as a "granary tree". Usually when they do this in living parts of trees, their holes are in the dead outer bark tissue and don't penetrate into the inner bark. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Acorn woodpeckers
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| Thanks for the reply saccharum, but it isn't acorn woodpeckers. I know what they look like. I believe it is a bug of some sort. |
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| Woodpeckers, yes; everything else, no. The damage appears to be the work of sapsucker woodpeckers. I have no idea how Saccharum came up with the granary-tree portion of his comments or the part about not penetrating the inner bark. Both those ideas seem to me to be completely off-base. |
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| I thought it might be sapsuckers; but I'm not so sure. There are so many holes and I NEVER see any birds on the tree. That doesn't mean a bird couldn't be the culprit, but I am wondering if there is a type of bug that leaves marks like this. Also, I'm wondering if the tree might have been unhealthy first and then the pest attacked, or vice versa. |
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| Brandon, I worked for a while in southern California, so I saw a lot of acorn woodpecker damage. They're very common out there. You can read the link for confirmation that they generally don't penetrate into the cambium of living trees, although I can't rule out that it sometimes could happen. I thought about sapsuckers too (and if this were TN then that would be the clear choice), but it sure looks to me like there are acorns in some of those holes. Kokosnood, I can assure you that this is not insect damage. |
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| I thought I should add that it's easy to miss seeing woodpeckers at work. Around my neighborhood, nearly every young street tree has loads of yellow-bellied sapsucker damage, but the birds themselves are very rarely seen or noticed, even during the cold season when they are active here. I rarely see them feeding, and then only because I'm looking for them. You could settle the acorn woodpecker vs. sapsucker debate by looking carefully to see if there are acorns wedged in any of those holes. I thought I saw some, especially in the second-to-last picture above, but it could be a trick of the light. But it's definitely woodpeckers, not insects. |
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| Definitely no acorns. We have an old acorn woodpecker granary in a fencepost and those holes are much bigger. |
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