These plants have been here long before I was born, and have been also essential for the micro-biome of our garden.
My parents say they talked with two arborists and they both told all the pinus have already been targeted by a bug that does this, so the trees have to been taken down 'cause there nothing left to do.
I should say that it is not unusual for me to see woodpeckers on those trees, but on the other hand, some of these holes are on the very bottom of the tree too, and I guess woodpeckers do not go that low(?)
Last info: I'm in Italy, don't know if that helps.
I'm posting here both because I want to know your opinion on this and because I don't really trust my parents at asking actual real arborists.
Thanks in advance for any reply and opinion!
by jagerdelm
11 Comments
Don’t know what’s caused those holes but dare say it will cause the trees to fail. Why not save some seed and grow new ones?
Not an arborist but that diagnosis seems crazy. Is it someone just fishing for more work?
Did they have an actual ISA or TRAQ certified arborist come by?
Or just a tree trimming company that claims to have an arborist?
When my TRAQ/ISA arbor rust came out he pulled off the bark around a few holes to see how far they went. The hold didn’t go past the bark so he said my trees were fine. He said if I ever see holes that go into the wood it’s probably bark beetles and my trees would be dead quickly.
Usually, borers attacking a tree trigger a response where the tree attempts to push the invader back out using resionous secrection. These “pitch tubes” are visible on the surface as bulbs, and can even be broken open to find the invading borer entombed within.
So, yes, something is doing that damage, but I suspect that, without “pitch tubes”, the damage is only surface level and isn’t threatening the trees.
However, if all of the foliage begins to brown, find the best offer for removal.
Plant spruces and other deciduous trees between the pines and water them abundantly.
Kinda looks like ants/woodpecker damage? I didn’t see any “pitch tubes” indicating boring beetles
Pinus Strokus is better imo.
The crowns of those trees suggest they are close to being dead in my opinion.
What species of borer were they suspecting? Or did they see live/dead specimens of the beetles or their larva?
Woodpeckers don’t create the frass you see in photo 8.
Peel of the bark and look for galleries in the bark that are the key symptom of the bark beetles in question.
If the beetles are present the trees WILL die eventually.
But symptoms of beetles does not mean beetles are deffo present so if you have a very strong desire to keep the trees then you might want to look at baiting and trapping to catch the beetles, but thats expensive long term.
I work with the state in Ireland monitoring for tree pests so more than happy for you message me if yiu wanna chat more! this is the post I’ve been waiting on!!