New woodpecker holes in White Pine tree...how to save the tree?

[Steve Delroy]

Hi everyone,


am very much hoping someone can help us with our white pine tree. We live in Ottawa, Canada.

This winter, we noticed a Pileated Woodpecker busy on our tree, nearer the base.

It’s made a couple of nice sized holes, borrowing all the way to middle of the tree. Please see the photographs.

When we realized what was happening, we effectively deterred the woodpecker by hanging up a CD on a nail, as they don’t like to see their reflection (or some such reason).

That being said, from some internet research, we understand that the woodpecker is likely after carpenter ants inside the tree. Then we ask why are the carpenter ants inside? Apparently they like to remove rotting wood…that’s probably not a good sign.

All this to say is can we save our tree? Outside of the woodpecker holes, the tree appears healthy to untrained eye (see first few shots)

What steps should we take? Do we need to seal up that hole somehow? How do we get rid of the ants? What caused them?

So many questions, but the bottom line is we are desperate to save this beautiful tree!

Thank you for any and all help!

PS. Something that may be worth mentioning, last summer we had someone trim the dead branches at the bottom of the tree. They told us that no seal was required as the sap would form a seal. I wonder if that attracted the ants as the tree would have been giving off more sap than usual - you can see two branches were cut off directly over where the woodpecker holes are
.

 

[BC WetCoast]

You are somewhat limited in what you can do. There is decay in the tree as evidenced by the carpenter ants and woodpecker activity.

The major question for me at this point is how close is the tree to significant targets ie house. There is a potential for the tree to break in a major storm, maybe not now, but potentially in the future. Therefore if it is close to a target, then you should consider removing it.

However, I'm only familiar with western white pine which is not a high strength species. There are others on the board who have more experience with eastern white pine.

To improve the tree, I would suggest a fertilization program to ensure the tree is growing as vigourously as possible and able to compartmentalize the decay. In addition, make sure it doesn't get drought stressed during the summer.

I don't think pruning the tree had any impact on whether the carpenter ants nested in the tree or not.

 

[Oldmaple]

The pruning had nothing to do with the pocket of decay. There was old damage that opened the tree to decay. Decay is the issue here, ants are in there because of the decay, they are not causing it. There isn't anything you can do to stop the decay, the tree has to compartmentalize it itself. You have a weak spot in the middle of the tree, now what to do. Normally you would take some of the load out of the tree above the weak spot. Unfortunately White Pine are not good candidates for this since it is not likely that it can be done in an aesthetically pleasing matter. My recommendation, if it won't hit anything important (targets), let it be and enjoy it as long as you have it. It wouldn't surprise me that it will be there 20 years from now. Enjoy the Pileateds too, they are beautiful birds and welcome to nature.

 

[Pelorus]

My prescription is that you deadwood and thin the top to reduce the sail effect and torque or bending moment.
Don't fertilize it because it probably doesn't need any in the first place, and also because additional limb growth (weight) is not something you want with a large decay column. Overextended limbs resulting from (unneeded) fertilizer application also will be more prone to breakage - wind, snow, ice.
And remove those CD's cause they look ridiculous, and Pileated woodpecker excavations can be used by other bird cavity nesters.