{"id":3089,"date":"2012-04-29T12:00:33","date_gmt":"2012-04-29T16:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=3089"},"modified":"2012-04-25T16:46:30","modified_gmt":"2012-04-25T20:46:30","slug":"sapsucker-feeding-may-blacken-maple-trunks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2012\/04\/29\/sapsucker-feeding-may-blacken-maple-trunks\/","title":{"rendered":"Sapsucker Feeding May Blacken Maple Trunks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3090\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/IMG_6805.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3090\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3090\" title=\"IMG_6805\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/IMG_6805-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/IMG_6805-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/IMG_6805-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3090\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sapsucker Holes Create Sappy Trunk<\/p><\/div>\n<p>You see or hear a sapsucker tapping in a yard tree and pay little attention to it. The bird perforates the tree or shrub trunk and main branches with numerous shallow holes, similar to a riveter working with sheet metal.\u00a0A sapsucker\u00a0feeds on the cambium sap and on insects under the bark.<\/p>\n<p>The holes are deep enough to cause sap leakage, particularly in the winter months when sap pressure in maples (also dogwoods,\u00a0elms, birches and yellowwoods) is the highest. The sugary sap coats the trunk, and\u00a0sooty mold fungi grow over the sap secretions. The result is a yucky black stain\u00a0similar to\u00a0pitch!<\/p>\n<p>What to do?\u00a0Nothing!! The sapsucker is at work, doing his\/her natural thing. Sapsuckers are members of the woodpecker family. They serve an important function: listening and removing\u00a0damaging insect borers which may be feeding on the tree sapwood.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, sapsucker feeding does not always indicate that the bird has found insects inside the tree. Yes, the numerous holes are unsightly, but are not injurious to the life of the tree. The black sooty appearance on the\u00a0trunk should wash off in the months ahead.<\/p>\n<p>According to University of Arkansas Extension horticulturist Dr. James Robbins, favorite tree species for sapsuckers include maple (<em>Acer <\/em>spp.), pecan (<em>Carya<\/em>), birch (<em>Betula <\/em>spp.), pine (<em>Pinus <\/em>spp.), elm (<em>Ulmus <\/em>spp.) and some oaks (<em>Quercus <\/em>spp.). Sapsuckers are attracted to old holes and other bark injury and may return to the same tree(s) for several years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You see or hear a sapsucker tapping in a yard tree and pay little attention to it. The bird perforates the tree or shrub trunk and main branches with numerous shallow holes, similar to a riveter working with sheet metal.\u00a0A sapsucker\u00a0feeds on the cambium sap and on insects under the bark. The holes are deep [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[844,879,616,469,880,630,714],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3089"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3140,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions\/3140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}