Oak with flaking bark

[Nick Harrison]

Had a customer ask me to check on her large English oak which she says sheds bark daily. Had a look from the ground and can see bald patches where bark has been dropping away, is fairly high up but all appears to be happening close to some pretty dodgy old pruning cuts. Gonna take a climb to have a closer look in a couple of weeks, any advice on what i could or should be looking out for? Hoping there will be a bit more bud burst by then which may help give some indication what is going on, any advice much appreciated!

[sloth]

I'll be interested in any answers also. Looked at an oak last week which had a 15-20 year tear from storm damage about 30 feet up. The tear extends around 10 feet, and then all the way to the ground in a continuous strip the bark is dead and flaking off. Can see no hollows or decay, no epicormic, in fact no growth from the tear down. However the rest if the tree above looks full of life and healthy. Could be the same thing...

[sloth]

Have Pollarded tree mentioned above, and it seems some unidentified fung is munching through the sap wood present at the time of wounding, not touching any heart wood or wood laid down since the injury though. Don't know if that's of any help to those more knowledgeable!

[Nick Harrison]

Had a climb yesterday to take close look at the flaking bark, no sign of old fungus, just some what I reckon is saprophytic fungi which indicates presence of deadwood. Will attach some photos later, unfortunately still too early to monitor bud burst, but there was certainly plenty of buds on their way above the damaged part. Found a buckle point on the opposing side of the tree (see pic) which would suggest the top is leaning to one side. It appears that a load of pruning work was done a few years ago, mainly limbs removed from just One side of the crown, was wondering if this would explain the buckling on the main stem? My vta skills are still in the early stages so not entirely confident in my conclusions, any advice would be much appreciated!

[Nick Harrison]

here are some pics

[ScottF]

Looks to me that it might well be the nasty Sudden Oak death, but I'd be delighted to be wrong.

 

Have a look at the images at Forestry Commission - Plant Health - P Ramorum Symptom images and see what you think.

 

Is the tree in the SW somewhere?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

here are some pics

 

get that rope lolered!

 

looks like a buckle that has become cankered, some fistulina brown rot is certainly present and I suspect thos white brackets are the bitter oysterling

[Nick Harrison]

Thanks, will check out your suggestions.

 

Rope got damage yesterday from misplaced climbing spike, new one already on order

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Thanks, will check out your suggestions.

 

Rope got damage yesterday from misplaced climbing spike, new one already on order

 

yes I did that a few times meself:blushing:

[Nick Harrison]

 

Is the tree in the SW somewhere?

 

 

Looked on site and can't see anything conclusive, tree is in sw by the way, not far from Exeter.