Hello friends, These are photos of a 14 year old semi dwarf Heyer apple, here in Taos New Mexico. It has fruited all of the last 10 or 11 years well. Last year, the tree looked healthy, but did not flower and obviously did not fruit. I noticed the bark is peeling. Any ideas???
Looks like Canker a bit. Very severe I’d say. Never seen one like that.
Buck scraping maybe? I’d kind of expect canker to be sunken, darkened and oozing if it were that bad.
Lightning strike? I’ve seen our pines burst open like that too.
Yeah usually with canker you see those tiny little red spot stains too.
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We have the orchard fenced, so the deer cannot get in. thanks for your help…
It could have been a lightning strike…
I think like Danny and Peggy, lightning strike. Strikes follow the grain of the wood and often follow the root underground for a distance. You might check to see. I’ve seen a ponderosa pine with chunks the size of 2x4s blown out and lying yards away. The sap boils explosively in such a case.
Last year we lost a gorgeous old 90 plus foot Spruce Pine to lighting. We are up on the first ridge of any consequence off the Coastal Plain. And generally they do not grow up here. Blew out the trunk halfway down and showered the girl’s swing set area in bark, twigs, branches and trunk matter. Thankfully the tree fell on more lesser trees.
I do not like pines but have left the larger, more stately senior citizens. Lost 3 to lightning so far.
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