Sycamore infestation

[djken]

Hi all,

 

Brand new here without much tree knowledge. Recently bought a house with a sycamore in the garden. This morning I've found a few chunks of bark have fallen out of part of the trunk, and this whole section is riddled with small holes.

 

The wood under the surface is very degraded and comes apart like sawdust, and seems to have a few larvae and something like dense cobweb strewn about it.

 

Any suggestions on what this is and if it can be treated would be much appreciated!

[Stubby]

Boring insect of some variety in the old wound and what looks like mycelium of some fungi .

[daltontrees]

That is an old old injury. The smooth bark around it is the tree putting on additional specialised wood that will be making that part of the tree very strong. No treatment is possible.

 

It is possible but unlikely that the wound will eventually heal over. It's alos possible but unlikely that it will break. If there's nothing much beneath it, there's not much to worry about for a few years, but it might be possible to  reduce the risk by moving whatever's beneath it, reducing slightly the weight and wind sail of the affected part or bracing the substem to the good adjacent one. A loop pf rope would do.

[AHPP]

Have you got a photo showing the union from the side?