What's happening to this tree?

[JRP3]

I've never seen this before in my woods, this hemlock is having the outer bark removed, also happening to another tree far away from this one, (might be an ash). I assume woodpeckers but I've never seen them only attack the bark like this and not drill holes.

 

[armanidog]

A bear?

 

[JRP3]

A bear?

Too high I'd think, maybe near 20ft at the top, and I've never seen any bear around here. Also no claw type marks.

 

[GrumpyDad]

my guess in order
1. sasquatch.
2. a wood borer. Do you see more limbs dead that other trees of that height?
3. there's a red bark issue happening that turns out to be some sort of algae invasion, if the bark is missing then this wouldnt be it. If the bark is just red then that's likely the culprit.

 

[JRP3]

It only started recently so not soon enough to see the effects on tree health. Bark is definitely missing, there are chips on the ground. The other tree isn't red under the bark, that's just the Hemlock's normal color if you chip the bark.

 

[mcdougy]

When looking at the hemlock, take a look at the branches. Check to see if there is white cotton looking g stuff where the needles meet the branch. I was just reading about this problem with hemlock. It's a Asian mite that effects the hemlock. IIRC it takes aprox. 3 years for this mite to kill the tree. Ash will loose its bark once it has succumbed to the emerald ash borer. The ash borer leaves holes the size of a ,22 calibre hole in the trunk of the tree. If you see the holes in ash tree it is a goner.

 

[GrumpyDad]

It only started recently so not soon enough to see the effects on tree health. Bark is definitely missing, there are chips on the ground. The other tree isn't red under the bark, that's just the Hemlock's normal color if you chip the bark.

thats crazy, do you see this elsewhere on your property or just this one tree? IF you see multiple, you might want to call an arborist.

 

[mcdougy]

 

[johneh]

I've seen woodpeckers do that to get bugs just under the bark

 

[peakbagger]

Do you have any porcupines around?

 

[troutbeer]

When I see lots of bark damage on a tree, particularly starting at ground level, I assume it's a porcupine.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Do you have any porcupines around?

This!

 

[JRP3]

I've seen woodpeckers do that to get bugs just under the bark

That's probably what's happening. I'm in central NYS so no porcupines. Some pics of the ash tree, I'm guessing the small holes are ash borers.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

D shaped holes are EAB.

 

[cahaak]

In addition to a porcupine, it could also be opossum. They have taken the outer bark off of many of my pines.

 

[CincyBurner]

D shaped holes are EAB.

+1 for EAB (ash pics) - Diagnostic of D-shaped exit holes in bark.
Initial impression of hemlock was bear damage, but couldn't tell (not close-up) if bark scraped off or it sloughed off and in that case perhaps dying hemlock (woolly adelgids ?) ?

 

[CincyBurner]

Bear damage is more raked claw marks in bark.
Just read possibility of porcupine damage for hemlock. I forgot about porcupine which are north of us. I recall damage on conifers when working in US forest in MI years ago, but hadn't seen it high up on trees.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

We had a porky strip the branches off a hemlock. They’ll do some heavy damage on white cedars also.

 

[JRP3]

Some closeups of the Hemlock, definitely bug activity in the bark, the one large round hole seems to have something in it, and I think only a woodpecker could drill in that far and make a round hole like that.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Your original picture didn’t show a pile of bark under the damage. Woodpeckers don’t cart away the wood. Maybe you have multiple things going on here?

 

[GrumpyDad]

I wonder what it could be...

 

[Duds13]

Some closeups of the Hemlock, definitely bug activity in the bark, the one large round hole seems to have something in it, and I think only a woodpecker could drill in that far and make a round hole like that.

View attachment 318845 View attachment 318846 View attachment 318847

That perfectly round hole looks like what carpenter bees do

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Bear scratches


Grumpy, you need a shave, lol.

 

[JRP3]

Your original picture didn’t show a pile of bark under the damage. Woodpeckers don’t cart away the wood. Maybe you have multiple things going on here?

There is bark on the ground amongst the leaves. I assume ash borers don't also attack hemlock, and the holes look different, (the ash holes are angled downwards while the hemlock go straight in), so I guess two different bugs may be attracting the same woodpeckers to the two different trees.

 

[Kevin Weis]

When looking at the hemlock, take a look at the branches. Check to see if there is white cotton looking g stuff where the needles meet the branch. I was just reading about this problem with hemlock. It's a Asian mite that effects the hemlock. IIRC it takes aprox. 3 years for this mite to kill the tree. Ash will loose its bark once it has succumbed to the emerald ash borer. The ash borer leaves holes the size of a ,22 calibre hole in the trunk of the tree. If you see the holes in ash tree it is a goner.

Some Ash the bark will come off. Some it doesn't. Seems the one's that have the bark come off are the younger ones at least in these parts. Bark exfoliation is a good thing to get it to dry out standing dead.