Yikes, what's happening to my tree?

RichInTheUSA · December 30, 2015, 10:54:05 AM

Anybody know what's happening to this tree? It's right next to my cabin, so I'm a little concerned that something is killing it. Bugs? Woodpeckers? Blight? This is the only tree that I see that has this discoloration and bark problem. I'm such a newbe, i'm not even sure what type of tree this is.

I see the administrator does not want us uploading pics directly to the post... so here is the url to my gallery.

https://forestryforum.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7011

Thanks for any insight.... Rich

beenthere · December 30, 2015, 11:32:05 AM

Looks like it is dying... and at least one of the three stems is gone and losing bark.

Did you notice if the leaves dried up early on that stem, and how the leaves looked on the other two stems before they all dropped this fall?

Click your pic in your gallery and just below that pic will be the instructions to how to put it in your post.

brendonv · December 30, 2015, 12:45:57 PM

Looks like it could be an ash tree. Can we get a canopy picture?

If its ash it looks like "blonding", as a result of emerrald ash borer. Birds removing the outer bark to get at the larvea on the inner bark.

If thats the case its a gonner.

RichInTheUSA · December 30, 2015, 04:53:08 PM

I'll take a pic of the canopy tomorrow when I'm back out at the property. I didn't notice this "blonding" happening until this past Fall... I did notice woodpeckers on the tree however.

Thank you.

Quote from: brendonv on December 30, 2015, 12:45:57 PM
Looks like it could be an ash tree. Can we get a canopy picture?

If its ash it looks like "blonding", as a result of emerrald ash borer. Birds removing the outer bark to get at the larvea on the inner bark.

If thats the case its a gonner.

Ron Scott · December 30, 2015, 05:50:20 PM

Yes, it looks like an emerald ash bore issue. Do you have more such trees in your area? An exam by your local conservation district forester might be worth while.

RichInTheUSA · December 31, 2015, 08:06:29 AM

I uploaded pics of the canopy of the tree with three main trunks. Sure enough, the two with the blinding are dead on the top.

I did look around for more trees with this issue and saw at least one other immediately. I'm sure there are more, as we have roughly 250+ contiguous acres (of which I own 30).

Thanks everyone for the advice... I'll contact my local forester in my county.

Filename: https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/40898/image~0.jpeg

JBlain · December 31, 2015, 02:01:08 PM

It sure looks like EAB to me. If it is, it works from the top down and usually takes a few years of infestation until you see the blonding. If you have ash trees in high hazard areas, time to take them down now when they are solid. Once they die, they turn punky fast and dangerous. We had it starting around 2011 in central PA and I did a pre salvage in 2007 of the nicest stems and logged the rest of the dying sawtimber in 2014 which yielded a little over 5,000 bd ft for my drying shed.