# White Oak Bark Problem



## MGH

The bark is coming off everywhere! Tried to identify problem by looking online, but so far cannot match what I'm seeing. Does anyone know what may be happening? The leave seem OK except for some insect damage.

Please see attached pictures.
Thanks

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## MGH

*Hypoxylon Canker*

I have been doing more checking....does it look like "Hypoxylon Canker" to anyone that really knows?


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## ch woodchuck

Tough call making a diagnosis from a few pics...I'll stick my neck out and say no,I don't believe that to be canker.Pics of the lower trunk show green sprouts in the area of what appears to be canker stain.If it were canker,those sprouts would be browned and dead.The upper canopy ''appears to be healthy''If it were canker,there would be signs of dieback.White oak bark can be very flakey.Check this link...note flakey barked oak pic.Click on it.It will enlarge.Anybody out there in tree land have any ideas????

White Oak Tree


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## Tim "Bo" Snell

*White Oak bark falling off*

Several possible explanations according to research: (1) Due to all the recent rains this spring, the trunks are expanding so rapidly that the loose bark is being caused to slough off. (2) Smooth patch disease is a fungal disease that, though not fatal to the white oak, will cause large areas of bark to slough off. (3) Something or someone is pulling off the bark, perhaps to get at bugs hiding in the inner recesses of the flakey bark. (4) Other suggested explanations (such as Hypoxylon Canker), that I am not convinced of. . . . 

My bet is Door #3 above. I have lots of _Quercus alba _ on my property of 5 acres and most of them are have piles of loose bark at their base. (I can see at least seven white oaks from my back deck.) We also have lots of squirrels, and I have personally seen one squirrel chewing & pulling off the bark from one of our white oaks, sending down a shower of loose bark over several minutes. Three different clients have already called to ask me about the problem, and two of them have also observed the squirrels pulling off the bark of the white oaks. On one of the white oaks right outside my deck, I can see where a squirrel has chewed a crescent-shaped pattern in the bark in order to remove the big piece of flakey bark. 

I have seen this condition in past years on selected white oaks, but this is the worst I have seen it in 15 years of tree work. Suffice it to say, I have yet to see a white oak that has died as a result of losing some of its outer/loose bark. It might present an aesthetic problem (that is, it is an eye-sore and it's a headache to have to clean up the piles of loose bark that accumulate at the base of the trees), but it doesn't seem to be a major health concern for the trees.


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## MGH

Thanks for all the responses. I'm leaning toward the third response as the most likely explanation. It matches my first suspicions, drought and wildlife. It has been extremely dry in Georgia this year and we have been getting hit occasionally with downpours, so the tree expansion idea fits. AND we have lots of squirrels, some of which visit out attic, very near the oak trees. We have lots of woodpeckers also, which I thought might be doing some of this, however I've never heard them close to the house. The dark color under the bark was what concerned me most. I'll have to wait and see what happens. The tree is towering over the house and may have to come down for our own safety. This is something that pains me to do, but if it falls for some reason towards the house, it will take it out, completely. The insurance company wouldn't like it if they knew how many trees we have in this precarious position! 
Thanks again!


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## Sagetown

Never seen a tree quite that bad, but lightening strike will kill it, and sluff the bark, leaving the leaves green most of the summer. The leaves turn leathery, and will even stay on way into the winter.


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## AMoore

*Black Dotted Brown Moth*

I and some other collegues have received calls about this too. The calls came from Johnston County, NC and in the Jordan Lake area. This seems to be occuring in VA, SC, and GA too. Birds and squirrels going after larvae may be the culprits in the bark coming off the trees. http://www.athensclarkecounty.com/DocumentCenter/Home/View/9133


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