The Forestry Forum

My boss asked me to find out if anybody had some info on a white oak disease that would cause the bark to fall off in chunks. He said that they are trees in his yard, and neighbors yard. He says he did not notice anything adverse this summer or fall, just that there are large quantities of bark on the snow around the trees.

He does not agree with my opinion, that the trees may have been stressed during earlier years due to the big time gypsy moth infestation in that area. I thought this may have led to insects in the trees, and the bark chunks are from the several pileated woodpeckers (http://www.enature.com/guides/show_species_fg.asp?beautyID=16181&recsFound=16&curPos=1&curGroup=Birds&screenType=normal&guideID=ng&recNum=BD0428&searchType=&color=&size=&shape=&leafShape=&fruit=&habitat=&range=&useFreeText=true&freeText=woodpecker) known to be in the area. (He says there are no woodpeckers) His Neighbor says different.

Are the trees really sick and dying? Does he have a heavy squirrel population in the neighborhood? They will strip the bark off some leaving strips of bark around the base of the tree.

That's what I asked him, He says yes because of the bark. I could not imagine a case where the trees appeared healthy into the fall, and then bark starts falling off during dormancy. Sounded more like a critter mess to me...