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Holes
in trees
By John
Fulton
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[MAY
24, 2004]
Many people are reporting holes in
trees. The holes are round and in a pattern either around or up and
down on tree trunks. They are also usually found in a tree that has
high sap flows, such as maples, gums or evergreens. These holes are
caused by yellow-bellied sapsuckers.
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 About the time we notice the holes, the
birds are gone. They migrate and bless us with their presence only
about two months in the spring (around May) and again in the fall
(around September). The holes can cause injury to the tree by
allowing a place for insects and disease to get in -- and death if
they completely girdle trees. Control is very difficult and consists
of trying to scare the birds with pie pans, whirlybirds, rubber
snakes or other items that make sound or sight.
If damage in an area of the tree trunk
is severe, you can wrap burlap around that portion to protect it.
The sticky-type products, such as Tanglefoot, would also have some
effect but might cause problems for some of the non-sapsuckers in
the area.
Several other causes for holes do
exist. Other than sapsuckers, the main cause seen this spring has
been carpenter ants. Carpenter ants are the large, black ants that
are very noticeable. They get their name from where they lay their
eggs -- meaning the female chews holes in wood to make a nesting
galley. The damage from the carpenter ant is not of the same degree
as termites. Termites digest the wood fiber and structurally weaken
it, while the carpenter ants make holes in the wood and don't weaken
it.
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The bad news is that carpenter ants
like to nest in dead wood. If you have ant activity in a tree, odds
are that there is some dead wood in the tree. You can help the
situation with secondary insects by painting exposed wood with
exterior latex paint or by spraying with an insecticide that has
some residual.
Herbicide drift
The first group of calls has come in to
the office about injured plants. The cause was herbicide injury. The
leaves were distorted and wrapped, just like symptoms you can find
with cornfield herbicide drift. In these cases, the drift was from
those chemicals, but they were applied to lawns.
The same products that work well on
broadleaf weeds in corn are also used to control dandelions, henbit,
chickweed and others in yards. Some of these products can even turn
into a vapor a week or so after they were sprayed and waft for over
a mile.
Keep these
types of events in mind as you choose products and pick a time to go
after weeds in your own lawn.
[John
Fulton,
Logan County Extension office]
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