I'm a first time home owners and bought my house about 10 months ago. When I first moved in, we had a very unkempt corner of the yard full of decomposing chopped wood and two unknown types of pines. I noticed alot of the tree's branches seemed to be dead (spread randomly), and would break off with my own weak strength. Its fall now and my husband and I have started some clean-up work. We've gotten rid of the wood pile for starters, and used a plastic wood trim and wood chips for some landscaping. While trimming these two trees I noticed something. They are covered in holes, the holes seem to be in a row like fashion and are everywhere on the main trunks and the large branches. The tree also seems to be leaking alot of sap in random locations, forming large sticky lumps. I also was bitten by something. I never saw the critter, but it left a welt that really itched until I shower. My husband also was bitten by the same creature when he was putting the trim in earlier that year. The broken branches under the bark seem to have almost a worming-trail that snakes around it. Kinda like scribble. I live in central IL around zone five, if that helps. I am concerned because these trees are massive, and would be a pain to remove and replace. I also -like- trees and want them to live! On an unrelated note I have a small willow about a hundred feet away that seems to have a growth along the bottom of the trunk. We assume that whomever owned the home earlier hit it with the mower. We've but some bricks around its base, so that's not happening anymore. It doesn't seem to be getting better though. Could that be related? This link has some photos I have uploaded. Two to help identify the tree, one showing the row-like holes and one showing the sap lumps. http://s406.photobucket.com/albums/pp145/KoffeeKeg/sick tree/ I have not seen any bugs, even while I trimmed this guy. Any ideas? ~Erin
Probably Austrian Pine Pinus nigra, a close-up photo of the cones would help to confirm or otherwise. The holes look like sapsucker (a species of woodpecker) feeding holes, if so, they're not a problem.
Mountain Pine Beetle? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_pine_beetle http://dcnrnews.wordpress.com/2008/...e-threat-to-region’s-forests-and-urban-trees/ We have seen this in British Columbia.
Looks like sawdust in the pine pitch? http://txforestservice.tamu.edu/main/popup.aspx?id=3398 Here is another link http://www.cheyennecity.org/index.aspx?NID=1081
Is there any way to identify if it is beetles without doing any more damage to the tree? It could be a woodpecker too, though it would be old damage. I am fairly certain a bird of prey lives in there now (I have seen the bodies) so Woody may have relocated. The holes are very circular, and slightly smaller then the tip of my pinky finger. I am not sure if that helps or not ;/ I don't see any dust, but there are several large bulges of sap throughout the tree.
