I’ve had “normal” peach borers before…they have always been in the trunk. Has anyone seen anything like this ? Its on a large branch about 3 feet off the ground…
ut 3 ft off the ground.
I’m sure you’ve heard of lesser peach tree borer.
I’m not saying that’s what it is, because we’ve never seen it here. But it does describe borer damage in lower limbs, especially in older trees.
I have seen a lot of lesser peach tree borer
Is this what damage from the “lesser” looks like ?
Borers tend to cause peach trees to exude gum mixed with sawdust, although there does appear to be an entrance or exit hole in the photo. However, something else may have been exploiting an injury caused by a temperature related cambium injury. You can poke around with a wire and even carefully with a knife, doing as little damage to living tissue as possible. If you find tunneling with your probe, you will know some boring activity has occured, but I’m doubtful it is from lesser peach tree borer.
I believe on the left side of the missing bark patch there is new cambium growth, and if it is what it looks like the damage was done a while ago and the tree is trying to heal.
That looks to me like the top of that limb died from sun scald and then a woodpecker came along some years later and pecked at it. With that big piece of bark missing it shows the whole surface there died … borers don’t do that.
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We tend to prune peach trees aggressively and that can cause sun scald. I believe it to be the combined forces of sun exposure and inadequate transpiration to keep the cambium from cooking during a strong sun in early spring- but that’s just my anecdote based theory, and I have a lot of anecdotal evidence accumulated over the years on the subject of sunscald- but mostly with apple trees, although I’ve often seen it on peaches. I study it on apples more closely.
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I have a similar problem but I’m unsure of what is causing the damage. Under the bark it’s like a sawdust layer. The small amount of clear sap ooze is only in spots. I’m thinking I have 2 culprits. 1st unknown bug & 2nd a bird that hunted him by pecking the branch?
What do you think?
I see that all the time. boarers
It might be a bit easier to diagnose if there was an indication of where the peach tree is growing.
I’m going to guess it’s at some sort of locale where winter is a significant event.
If that’s the case, I see some winter damage perhaps exacerbated by fungal pathogens.
Over the years I’ve seen lots of peach trees which have sections of dead bark over winter. Most of the time there are a significant number of years left of production, even if the bark doesn’t heal completely.
The second pic is more problematic. I don’t like to see the death creeping that high up the scaffolds. Sometimes we cut off the scaffolds like that, but only if the whole scaffold is dead.
Peach trees are more like super large house plants, imo. They really don’t operate like real trees. You just deal with them like humongous outdoor house plants, in a manner of speaking.
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Death creeping? I’m not sure what you mean by that?
I live in Virginia, more specifically, the Shenandoah valley.
I’ve been dealing with the Peachtree borer for years using nematodes or w/ wire to control them. Also I paint the trunks but this spring they’ve returned yet again. However this is the 1st time Ive had them on the scaffolds.
As you see - need a new coat of paint.
Can I wrap the damaged/missing scaffolds bark with tree wrap or cheesecloth or am I inviting more harm than good?
This was before I pruned the suckers off.
I’d be more worried if there was significant gumming and the tree has lost vigor. In general, as long as the peach trees I manage are still in good vigor, I wouldn’t worry that much about such symptoms, beyond making sure no borers were involved which would be evident by the sawdust residue they leave and the gumming response, I think.
Peaches are junk trees and although they sometimes continue to thrive and produce well for more than a quarter century here, once they lose vigor they seldom recover it, in my experience.
Now, if those wounds are not quite recent I’d be worried- this growing season they should show signs of new tissue at least partially closing the larger wound, and I’m pretty confident they will be if the rest of the tree is growing well as it appears to be (the new wood in the photo is a bit hard to read for me but it looks to have grown well last season).
There are a few codiminant branches, that is, excessively thick secondary branches on the tree- this can lead to a lot of injury from heavily cropped trees as unions are weak. I think scaffolds are best managed as if they are central leader trees with the “trunk” being its structural center and nothing coming off of it more than half its diameter. This assures that the center can wrap enough tissue around secondary wood to keep it strong.
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When the dead bark creeps up the scaffolds, that generally means it kills the scaffold eventually. They eventually just break off, or die.
Now that I see a full pic of the tree, I realize the first pic you posted was of a scaffold. I looked at to too quickly the first time and thought it was the trunk. So it looks like you have two scaffolds with dead bark?
In my experience when there is that much dead bark, the tree is in slow decline, although I’ve seen a few exceptions. The tree may produce another 5 years before the scaffolds drop off.
There are a few things you can do which will give it a better chance.
One is to prune it (but I’d wait for the early growing season, so as not to stress the tree right now).
You might also kill the sod around the tree, with mulch or a shovel. Peach trees don’t compete well with sod.
Lastly, you might give it some N fertilizer. If you use something like urea, just make sure you don’t overdo it.
All these things will increase the vigor of the tree and help to heal the dead bark.
Make sure you stay on top of any borers, as Alan mentioned.
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The wounds are recent, they where not there this past fall when I gave them the last nematode treatment.
When I repaint the trunk this year, should I include the scaffolds? If so, how high do I paint them?
Thank you for your advice on the secondary branches, like most, I’m afraid of over-pruning but at the same time I prefer a healthy tree & will do what’s necessary to keep it that way.
A little back story…
My grandma purchased 4 of these red havens 2 yrs before she passed 2017. Id lost my last of my original 4 Georgia peach trees 2016 due to lack of knowledge maintaining them. Unfortunately I’ve lost 1 of the red havens 2019.
We’ve sprayed 7 on & around them, especially during Japanese beetle season & I’ve continued nematode treatments - even putting nematodes in a syringe & injecting them in borer holes that I couldn’t retrieve borers out from. I’ve mulched the base, placing cedar chips next to the exposed roots then mulch/loose soil mix back up to the waterline to monitor borer activity & painted the trunks BUT they’ve RETURNED!!!
I know that once they’ve infested they will always have to be monitored but what else can I do???
PS - I’ve done the pheromone traps before to monitor when they mate but my husband convinced that just attracts more to the tree
Last - I do thin what crops to ovoid overweighted branches & to increase the size of my harvest.
The last 2 years, late frost got my harvests even tho prior frost we’d cover them. We’ve even tried watering them down before dawn/frost. My area has such unpredictable weather, it makes it hard to forecast.
It helps to put moth balls at the base of the tree to control borers, if you don’t want to spray for them.
Thinning is generally required for apples, pears, peaches, and to a lesser extent, plums.
It helps prevent broken branches, increases the size and flavor of fruit.
Re frosts:
If there is no wind, some people have success tying a blanket over a tree and putting incandescent lights on the tree (like old outside Christmas tree lights).
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The only thing that would cause that transition over one winter is a buck rub, IMO.