# PLEASE HELP ID this strange anomaly...



## mrastaples (Jul 17, 2015)

Hello All..... I need help with identifying just what this is on this pine tree. It is on my property and I am trying to find out if it is something that I should remove. It's not just on this one Pine, but about 500' away, there is also an Oak with the same anomaly. Only these 2 trees have these odd "rings". I posted it on Facebook, and have no arborists on my list, and some seem convinced that it is the result of vines or wire wrapped around it when it was young, or even scars from some other sort of damage. I don't believe that to be the issue. If you look closely, you can see numerous other places between the rings where there are less pronounced bulges that seem to have not developed as much as the large rings. I suspect that it is either a result of some sort of insect infestation(though I think less of this theory, because no other nearby trees seem effected), or it is a disease or genetic defect.

Can anyone qualified help with this? I don't want to leave these 2 tree's if this condition might spread.

Thanks so very much in advance, for any reply!!

Sincerely,
mrastaples


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## gary courtney (Jul 17, 2015)

looks like something was wrapped around trunk at younger age and growed around?


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## mrastaples (Jul 17, 2015)

gary courtney said:


> looks like something was wrapped around trunk at younger age and growed around?



Buy why are the rings perfectly level with the ground? Vines don't grow that way....? ..and what about all of the smaller bulges between the rings?


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## gary courtney (Jul 17, 2015)




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## moondoggie (Jul 17, 2015)

Old zip line


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## mrastaples (Jul 17, 2015)

moondoggie said:


> Old zip line



Naaaa..... A Zip Line wouldn't be at various heights nor have the other misc bumps between the rings..


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## mrastaples (Jul 17, 2015)

I'm hoping that SOMEONE can offer a genuine assessment of this condition. So far, I'm getting the same guesses I got on FB from laymen.


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## moondoggie (Jul 17, 2015)

mrastaples said:


> I'm hoping that SOMEONE can offer a genuine assessment of this condition. So far, I'm getting the same guesses I got on FB from laymen.


A gentleman I see


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## mrastaples (Jul 17, 2015)

moondoggie said:


> A gentleman I see



I don't mean to offend, and apologize if I have... I just want someone who is familiar with tree diseases or genetics or infestations to give an assessment. I'm a surveyor and have worked in the woods and seen odd tree anomalies for dozens of years, but this is not a scar from fencing, zip line, rubbing, animal clawing or rut.... It just doesn't fit the criteria... and the intermediate bulges tell me that it's an internal situation. Eghhh....


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## moondoggie (Jul 17, 2015)

*Perhaps.... Something like this.*

*Growing free*



When we had the nephews at the farm two weeks ago, the tall one and I went to work on task #10 on the fall to-do list: remove stakes from established trees and stake the new trees that we planted this spring. The first step was to unshackle the trees from the cuffs that were wrapped around them. Some were tied with rope, some had sections of garden hose, some had wire. All were snug. Some were strangling. It was quite an arboreal torture chamber we were running here.

No tree emerged unscathed. Some are simply scarred.





Others are permanently deformed.





We cut the wires and hoses and ropes out of the trees as best we could. Where we ran into trouble was the stakes. The nephew and I did fairly well on the first few trees rocking the stakes back and forth to loosen them up and then pulling them out in a coordinated effort. However, after he left and it was up to Matt and me, the rest of the stakes held strong.

We must have been missing the magic touch, because no matter how much we wiggled the stakes we couldn’t get them to budge.

In desperation, Matt went and got Wiley, and I found a rope. We tied the rope to the stake and attached the other end to Wiley’s loader. Then Matt raised the bucket, the rope snapped, and the stake stayed where it was.

I went and got a chain. We hooked everything together, and Matt raised the bucket again. And the front wheels of the tractor lifted off the ground.

We spent a while adjusting the chain, adjusting the tractor, tugging on the stake and only succeeded in bending it.





The conclusion I came to is that the stakes have been in the ground so long that the tree roots must have grown around the metal. I don’t think we’re going to get them out. Above ground, the trees are free. I can only hope they survive their ordeal and continue to grow. Matt, however, is a bit traumatized from his wheelie on the tractor, so we’re calling this job good enough for now. The rest of the stakes–removing them from the older trees and adding them to the new trees–can wait until spring.


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## moondoggie (Jul 17, 2015)

I really think the tree grew around some foreign object wrapped around it long ago. A certified arborist will chime in soon.


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## mrastaples (Jul 17, 2015)

moondoggie said:


> I really think the tree grew around some foreign object wrapped around it long ago. A certified arborist will chime in soon.




Then how are the bulges between the rings explained? I don't believe for a second that this is anything due to girdling or the like... lol... I hope we can get a good explanation.. It has caused quite the controversy on my FB page! lol


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## ATH (Jul 17, 2015)

It is bird peck...from a sapsucker


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## gary courtney (Jul 18, 2015)

mrastaples said:


> I'm hoping that SOMEONE can offer a genuine assessment of this condition. So far, I'm getting the same guesses I got on FB from laymen.


i believe your getting "genuine" assessments !


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## Raintree (Jul 18, 2015)

ATH said:


> It is bird peck...from a sapsucker


There you go, callous tissue formed over sapsucker wounding.
Now post a pic of that oak with the same issue.


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## mrastaples (Jul 18, 2015)

Raintree said:


> There you go, callous tissue formed over sapsucker wounding.
> Now post a pic of that oak with the same issue.



Can do, but it'll have to wait until Monday, as I'm out of town. The rings/wounds on the oak are identical in their form. If the pine issue is due to a sapsucker, then can the same be said for the oak? (This is in Richmond, Virginia, by the way)


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## mrastaples (Jul 18, 2015)

gary courtney said:


> i believe your getting "genuine" assessments !



I know.. I know.. and again, I don't mean to be impolite, but in my original post I mention that others have made guesses about vines, wires, etc.. and that that theory just doesn't seem to fit with the fact that there are several other smaller bulges between the big rings.


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## gary courtney (Jul 18, 2015)

Raintree said:


> There you go, callous tissue formed over sapsucker wounding.
> Now post a pic of that oak with the same issue.


perhaps an oak heals differently than pine


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## mrastaples (Jul 18, 2015)

Ok... I'm feeling pretty confident in the Sapsucker assessment. I've done some poking around online and the wounds seem exactly the same. This guy is an entomologist and shows the same affliction in the 6th and 7th pics..
https://beetlesinthebush.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/how-to-be-an-iphone-nature-photographer/


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## mrastaples (Jul 18, 2015)

..and this one, too.. Under the "Animal Damage" section near the bottom.
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/pp318/profiles_mirror/abiotic/abiotic.htm


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## mrastaples (Jul 18, 2015)

ATH said:


> It is bird peck...from a sapsucker



Ding-ding-ding!!!! Apparently, you win!! I've looked up "sapsucker damage" and have found several matches that look virtually identical. 

Thank you very much!!!


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## gary courtney (Jul 18, 2015)

ATH said:


> It is bird peck...from a sapsucker


you notice mrstaples he did not say I THINK! He knew and he nailed it!  to you ATH


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## ATH (Jul 18, 2015)

mrastaples said:


> ....
> Thank you very much!!!


No problem. Make sure all your friends in Virginia know that a Hokie forester got it


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