Interesting pattern on a scots pine....

[Mr P]

We where doing some work in a back yard and the home owner asked me to have a look at his scots pine so I climbed up and saw this....

 

Boss said its a pine beetle and has wiped out mountain sides in western Canada.....can anyone confirm??

 

How does it affect the tree??safe to climb??

 

Cheers paddy

 

 

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[Stephen Blair]

A busy woodpecker?

[Mr P]

One of the guys suggested just that, it may have been a wood pecker trying to get at the beetles but the pattern is really uniform I thought a wood pecker would be more random....the crown has turned an orange/brown so I was thinking there might be something else going on

 

 

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[treeseer]

Sapsucker wounding now to lick the sap later, yes safe to climb as before.

 

Boss needs to go to bug school; beeetles bore in little holes.

[Mr P]

I didnt know wood peckers could do that!!..cheers for the info...Does it kill the tree??....you can see the difference in colour of the canopies in the first photo as the tree behind is also a scots pine.

 

 

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[treeseer]

I didnt know wood peckers could do that!!..cheers for the info...Does it kill the tree??....you can see the difference in colour of the canopies in the first photo as the tree behind is also a scots pine.

 

 

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They really went to town on that poor pine; won't kill the whole tree but def can kill/decline branches and leaders. Stapling burlap or such can deter them so the bark can regrow.

 

Not unusual in US; many sp. of trees affected, but thankfully not always so severe.