What is this, and what do I do about it?

[Egon]

As has been suggested "Frost Action" may be the culprit.

 

[LostInTheWoods]

A google search led me to this. I had never heard of sun scale. Or frost crack. I suppose this could explain what is going on. I know that the night of the ice storm, there were "loud, rifle-shot sounds" all night long. Of course, a lot of that was branches as big as a man's thigh snapping off and falling through the canopy to the ground. Or even whole trees toppling over. Had a couple of trees that were nearly as big around as telephone poles snap 15-20 feet above the ground.

There's no mention in this report of oaks and hickories, though.

Trees: Maple Tree Bark Split, cold winter weather, silver maple tree

 

[dodge man]

Deer will often rub on trees and cause damage, but usually they are smaller trees.

 

[studor]

I think freezing damage as well -- the tree warms on the south side by the sun, actually starts sap flowing then freezes and damages the tree. The damage is usually where the sun hits the tree for the longest period of time. Generally the tree will be ok but in some cases it will die off. You can stop it on trees you really want to protect by putting a board up in front of the sunny side to shade the tree. The bad ice storm we had here in 98 is still killing trees on my property -- the tops snapped off and slowly the tree rots or gets infected, then 11 years later the tree is standing dead.

 

[jinman]

The real problem with trees is trying to find out what caused the original problem and not get confused with after-effects. For example, you can see sapsucker damage on a tree and think that is what caused the problem, but it is really that the tree is in stress and producing more sugars which draws in the sapsucker. Doing everything to maintain the good health of a tree will often make it resistive to bugs and other problems. Many times the things we see first on trees are results rather than the original problem.

I know this didn't help much, it's just my little rant.

EDIT: Around my house, I have several postoak trees that are in stress and have yellowing leaves. When I look out over my woods, I don't see those problems. It's obvious that my building a house and putting in a lawn is not what these trees prefer. They like to be left alone with brush and undergrowth that has been there for eons before I arrived with my "bright" idea of building a house in the middle of them.

 

[LostInTheWoods]

Deer will often rub on trees and cause damage, but usually they are smaller trees.

I don't think its deer in this case. All these trees are relatively close to the house. Our German Shepherd doesn't tolerate other animals on (or under) his turf, so the deer tend to keep their distance. The count so far is Dog 5, Moles and Possum 0. The other wildlife is smart enough not to get too close.

What's interesting about that is the local wildlife seem to have caught on pretty quickly just how far he can go in the yard. He can get about 120 feet or so from the house on his wireless collar. The deer and turkey will leisurely stroll through the yard just outside his range. They just know he won't go any further.

 

[/pine]

any chance you noticed this after an electrical storm...I've seen similar looking symptoms on Live Oaks after they've being struck by lightning...

 

[LostInTheWoods]

any chance you noticed this after an electrical storm...I've seen similar looking symptoms on Live Oaks after they've being struck by lightning...

Don't think it is lightning, either. If it were just one or two trees, I could believe it. But there are 15 + trees I've seen just in and around the edge of the yard. And I haven't even looked around the rest of the property.

Damage from this past winter's ice storm seems to make sense as the most likely culprit, now that some others have mentioned the possibility. Maybe something else is contributing....insects or fungus taking advantage of ice damage, perhaps.

 

[RedRocker]

We were sitting less than a hundred yards from an Oak hit by lightning, it blew the bark off of that tree and killed it deader than a door nail. I think you can rule that out.

 

[ELMO67]

Maybe a Pileated woodpecker going after bugs? What about somebody shooting at your trees?