Xtremehorticulture

Sapsucker Damage on Australian Bottle Tree

Q. I have a 5 year old Australian bottle tree that has a large canopy.  The canopy has very yellow leaves and I have found on  the trunk  about ¼ inch holes in the trunk. There are quite a few holes but I have not counted all of them. I don’t want to lose my tree. Can you tell me what is wrong with it?  No picture was submitted of the tree damage. A. This is probably sapsucker damage. They are in the family of woodpeckers.They are migratory in the Las Vegas Valley and probably overwinter mostly in northern Mexico. So you see this kind of damage on preferred trees twice a year. https://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/FSA-7561.pdf Sapsucker damage on Tipu. Sapsucker damage to Southern Live Oak Sapsucker damage to blue ghost eucalyptus For more information and some suggested control measures visit my blog at these locations. http://xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com/2011/08/someones-drilling-holes-in-my-trees.html http://xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com/2015/12/holes-in-trees.html

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Pine Tree Dripping Sap from Holes

Q. I have a one-acre lot in east Las Vegas with large pine trees. One of the trees recently started dripping lots and lots of sap. Upon inspection, we found some horizontal lines of holes in the bark.  Other areas the sap is just dripping from the natural seams of the bark.  I looked online and it suggests a bird rather than a borer if the holes are in lines. Are there woodpeckers in Las Vegas? A. Yes, we have the yellow-bellied sapsucker here which is in the family of woodpeckers. They cause the kind of damage you are seeing and drill holes in horizontal lines which can drip sap. It looks a little bit like someone took a drill and drilled holes in the tree close together and in a straight line. There is not much you can do except to try to exclude these birds from the trunk which is difficult. The good news is that these trees can live many years with this type of damage from this bird if the tree is healthy and growing. Big pine trees use a lot of water so make sure yours is receiving enough water in the spring and summer months so that it will grow enough and recover from the damage. If damaged trees do not grow enough to recover from the bird damage then it can be a problem for the tree.  Try looking here on my blog http://xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com/2011/08/someones-drilling-holes-in-my-trees.html http://xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com/2014/04/holes-in-trees-due-to-woodpecker.html http://xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com/2015/01/what-caused-holes-in-my-tree.html http://xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com/2015/01/time-of-year-for-holes-to-appear-in.html

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Holes in Trees Due to Woodpecker?

Q. Do we have woodpeckers in Las Vegas?  This is the north side on the trunk of my Carob tree, at about chest high. The trunk is 5″ to 6″ in diameter.  The reason that I checked the trunk this morning is that I saw a bird perched there apparently pecking and went out to see if there were ants.  I found no similar pits in another carob tree that is older.  Readers picture of sapsucker damage to carob tree. A. We have sapsuckers that come through Las Vegas this time of year and they cause that type of damage. I wrote about this on my blog a couple of years ago. Trees can live quite a long time with this kind of damage. Birds frequently will come back to this tree in future years. I have had apples with over ten years of damage and still doing okay. Otherwise you have to do something to keep them from getting to the tree. Previous posting on sapsucker damage on Xtremehorticulture

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