Beautiful, but what is it? And how bad is this damage?

[BlueRidgeMark]

A gorgeous evergreen on my property. I think woodpeckers like it, too (third picture). Do I need to be concerned about their activities? The tree appears quite healthy, otherwise.












BTW, I've tried using a few of the links provided on other threads to ID trees, and have not had much success.

 

[rbtree]

Those holes are caused by sapsuckers. They drill the holes, then come back later to collect sap. When there's that many of them, they can surely affect a tree's ability to function correctly. You can hope they don't see the need to do any more drilling.

 

[ShoerFast]

Those holes are caused by sapsuckers. They drill the holes, then come back later to collect sap. When there's that many of them, they can surely affect a tree's ability to function correctly. You can hope they don't see the need to do any more drilling.

Yes the dredded Sap-Sucker! I hear you can try to get rid of them, but they come back?

I concure, any more holes and that sucker would be Coveredin it!

Is that an Engelmann Spruce?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engelmann_Spruce

Kevin

 

[treeseer]

Bad damage; wrap that area with loose fabric today. Longterm behavior modification, put out seed and suet feeders.

I've seen beeches, hollies, dogwoods etc killed back by that dirty bird's girdling.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Oooh. I didn't want to hear that! I've been putting out suet - guess it's time to increase the dosage. Cheap preventative maintenance on a nice tree.


What kind of fabric? Burlap? Loosely, I presume...

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Is that an Engelmann Spruce?

Hmm. Well, if Wiki is right (they ARE right SOME of the time), it's certainly not.

The Engelmann Spruce (Picea engelmannii) is a medium-sized evergreen tree growing to 25-40 m tall, exceptionally to 65 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 1.5 m. It is native to western North America, from central British Columbia and southwest Alberta, southwest to northern California and southeast to Arizona and New Mexico; there are also two isolated populations in northern Mexico. It is mostly a high altitude mountain tree, growing at 900-3450 m altitude, rarely lower in the northwest of the range; in many areas it reaches the alpine tree-line.

I'm at maybe 500' above sea level, and farther east than Florida!

Not the right shape, either, and not that tall. Mine is about 30-35', as are others in my neighborhood.

 

[trees4est]

That's a Norway Spruce, Picea abies. Man, do sapsuckers love those suckers. Has anyone ever tried the rubber snake thing? You might have to put quite a few in to scare sapsuckers off the whole tree. If it would even work. They can sometimes really hammer an individual tree.

 

[ShoerFast]

Hmm. Well, if Wiki is right (they ARE right SOME of the time), it's certainly not.



I'm at maybe 500' above sea level, and farther east than Florida!

Not the right shape, either, and not that tall. Mine is about 30-35', as are others in my neighborhood.

Hope you don't ID trees by how tall they are, compared to how tall they get!
Take them out of there genetic element and who knows how they would grow?

The shape has more to do with growth rate, but I think Trees4est is right, as a Norway Spruce's needles do have the same taper that yours have (needles get shorter towards the tip) as Englemanns needles are about the same length.


Kevin

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Hope you don't ID trees by how tall they are, compared to how tall they get!

Well, when ALL of them in a given area at half of what it 'should be', it does suggest you have the wrong tree.

Take them out of there genetic element and who knows how they would grow?

Good point.

The shape has more to do with growth rate,

And light, I would suspect. Put most sun lovers in the shade, and it will get spindly, if it grows at all. However, these are more full and more pyramidal than the ones shown on Wiki, which are in full sun. So, that's going in the opposite direction.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Bad damage; wrap that area with loose fabric today.

Burlap strips? I can send a small boy up the tree to wrap it around. I've had to tell them not to climb that one (was worried they were stressing it too much), so I'm sure I can find a volunteer.

 

[treeseer]

Yeah burlap strips are good. Be ready to clean the pitch off your kid.

 

[Mike Barcaskey]

I've seen beeches, hollies, dogwoods etc killed back by that dirty bird's girdling.

you continue to shock me treeseer

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Yeah burlap strips are good. Be ready to clean the pitch off your kid.

Nah - they can do that. They didn't mind when they were climbing it for fun.


I really appreciate the help, gents. That tree is too nice to lose.