Our mountain ash looks like a cross between a wounded veteran and a Christmas tree, all signs of a battle I’ve been in with a stubborn sapsucker. I was admiring the tree the other evening, bountifully berried with bright orange clusters for the first time since we planted it several years ago. On closer inspection, though, I saw that the bark both around the tree proper at eye level as well as on several of its branches was riddled with holes exposing the phloem or xylem (I’m not sure which, still reading up on that.) Bottom line – it’s serious. The tree’s in danger of being girdled and killed, much like the rodents did to several of our maples this past winter. If the bark’s gone, the flow of water and nutrients up and down the tree is interrupted and from my limited understanding, bark does not reconstitute itself. It can’t grow back. I quick got a can of black tar to fill the holes and as I was doing so Richard spoke of a product called “tanglefoot” which is a sticky substance you slather onto the bark to keep the birds from landing. They can’t stand the feel of it on their feet.
Smash cut: landscaping store, next day. No, tanglefoot is more for insects and can’t go directly onto the bark, it injures it. If you insist on using it, put duct tape over the bark, sticky side out to further discourage the birds, and then smear tanglefoot on top of that. I decided to forego the tanglefoot and got a “wrap” for the tree. Back at the house, I gently and carefully wrapped the tree’s blackened wounds, my own mini-triage unit, and waited to see the outcome.
Next morning I spotted the sapsucker on the tree. It was acting very curious, up and down the wrap, not knowing what to make of the material. I shooed it away, then checked the surface. No further damage. So far, so good. But later, and not much later at that, I returned to see sap seeping out of the wrap. It looked ghoulish, like bleeding wounds, bees hovered around, landed. Obviously, this wasn’t working. I covered the new wounds with more tar, and tried the duct tape backwards, but an hour later I returned, and the sapsucker had drilled through that as well. A few of its feathers were stuck to the tape, but other than that, the bird had not been deterred. I phoned Richard to commiserate and he suggested something he had seen on a neighbors tree, foil or mirrors hung on branches to unnerve the bird. I searched the drawers - no foil, no mirrors, no shiny objects. But wait a minute. The aluminum bottoms to little votive candles we have around the house caught my eye. That could work. I jimmied out the candle carcasses, punched a hole in their aluminum sides, and then, stringing a piece of cooking twine through the hole, hung them on various branches of the tree, about 8 in all. Now, it’s still another morning and I haven’t had the heart to go out and check its success – or failure. Knock on wood. If you have any other suggestions, please don’t hesitate to leave them. It’s felt good, though, to have some hands on care of a tree. They’re well worth it.
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