Holes in my apple trees

[BornToHunt]

So I was up at my property yesterday pruning some old apple trees I have and I notice a bunch of small holes in the trunk of the tree. They were all in a row and didn't go very deep. Does anyone know what caused this and how i can treat it?

[stoneam2006]

Had a similar problem on the black walnut trees at my grandmother's old house in the fingerlakes. Had Cornell come out and look at them said it was a woodpecker getting after it. We had just never seen it doing it.

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[philoshop]

Sounds like a woodpecker. Unless they go all the way around the trunk it probably won't hurt anything. If they really go crazy on it, the tree is probably already dying and infested with insects under the loose bark.

[Doc]

Yup! That's woodpecker work. The bad news is that you know he wasn't just doing that for exercise. That tree has some sort of infestation.

[BornToHunt]

Don't think it was a woodpecker. These were small holes. Smaller than the diameter of a pencil and they were in a horizontal row almost all around the tree.

[stoneam2006]

Sounds just like my exp.....but I am far from expert. Cornell may come out if your really worried.

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[Pygmy]

Yellow bellied sapsucker.

 

The holes aren't very big and they are always in a line around the tree.

[G-Man]

Yep pigmy hit it sap sucker...

[BornToHunt]

Yellow bellied sapsucker.

 

The holes aren't very big and they are always in a line around the tree.

 

How do i treat it? Any type of pesticide i can buy? When do i apply it?

[Pygmy]

A 12 gauge with # 9 skeet loads would work nicely on sapsuckers or most any other woodpeckers.

 

Don't get caught shooting them though, because they are a protected species.

 

 

[Hunter1]

Woody's The woodpecker at work Seen them doing it to my trees Wrap them with wire mesh  but leave a couple inch space between the tree and the mesh.

[philoshop]

If it's just a few holes, they're only testing. If it gets to be lots and lots of holes, the tree is most likely infected with insects and it's probably on it's way out anyway and you might as well let 'em eat their fill.

Seriously, the birds won't normally do much damage with a few test holes in a healthy tree. They're looking for bugs under the bark. If the bark is tight on the tree there's no dinner there and they'll move on.

Old apple trees can be pretty tough, and can tolerate a fair amount of stress from birds, bugs and gnawing animals, depending on what you expect from the fruit. Be gentle with the pruning, and as long as it's producing fruit and only for feeding the deer, don't fuss with it too much.

[BornToHunt]

thanks philoshop i don't go crazy with the prunning. I just remove all ther sucker shoots and cut back some of the large growth. The first year i had this property these apple trees didnt produce much, but after pruninng i can get a bushels from each one and the deer love them.

[2012_taco]

I'm not trying to sabotage this thread but I need advise on pruning apple trees. I know you are supposed to take out the suckers and I heard that each main branch should only have 2 side branches but I look at my apples and they are out of control and I fear taking too much off. The fruit last year was plentiful although very small sized. I need to see how to prune a tree because I've read about it on line and it just confuses me.