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Hole bored into trunk of young tree - will it damage it?

jacquimoorhouseBW_JiorDjacquimoorhouseBW_JiorD Posts: 5
in Problem solving
Something has made a hole in the base of the trunk of our young tree - it is a Cockspur Thorn Prunifolia. At first I saw wood shavings laying on the trunk, and when I brushed them away there was this strange orange stuff coming out of a hole. Now the orange stuff is gone but there is still a big hole and the area around it looks dark and rough on the trunk. Is something boring into the tree trunk? and if so, will it damage the tree? The tree otherwise looks very healthy.
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  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @jacquimoorhouseBW_JiorD A Birch tree was planted in a local park in memory of a dear gardening friend. Three years on it had some serious damage to it's trunk. I realised because of the height of the damage, it was probably caused by a grass box on a lawnmower. It didn't ouse sap but was more of a large surface scratch that went beneath the outer bark.

    I was concerned at the time, it made a full recovery, the scar remains. Birch is a tree that will ouse alot of sap so not the perfect comparison I realise.

    I have no idea of the cause but any damage can leave a tree vulnerable to disease. on the positive otherwise healthy trees have the ability to repair.
    I think you must just wait and see. Welcome.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2023
    That looks to me like something we’ve seen before but I can’t remember it’s name … it’s an insect that lays an egg on the tree (mainly fruit trees) and the larvae burrows into it, before pupating and moving on. Usually does little harm unless the tree is very small. 

    Someone!? @wild edges  @steephill …. Anyone???? 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • jacquimoorhouseBW_JiorDjacquimoorhouseBW_JiorD Posts: 5
    Thank you both for your help! @GardenerSuze I don't think the trunk can have been damaged as we don't use any equipment in the garden. @Dovefromabove that sounds quite possible, and if so it's reassuring to hear that it doesn't do any harm. But I can't seem to find anything on google that looks anything like it.
  • AsarumAsarum Posts: 661
    Could it be that’s a graft area?  Maybe it’s failing and some insect found some nice soft wood to burrow in.
    East Anglia
  • jacquimoorhouseBW_JiorDjacquimoorhouseBW_JiorD Posts: 5
    Thanks @Asarum. That sounds a bit worrying! I am new to gardening so don't really know anything about grafting. The rest of the tree looks very healthy at the moment but I do agree that the problem seems to be happening at a point where the trunk changes shape.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    One pic only shows a stake.  Was the binding too tight? was it rubbing?
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I wonder if it had a band round there when it was smaller and it’s chafed it.  Then an insect took advantage. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • jacquimoorhouseBW_JiorDjacquimoorhouseBW_JiorD Posts: 5
    Thanks @bede.burnDZ9CReZm - I don't think it can be the stake binding as that has always been higher up. Thanks also @Lyn - that may be a possibility and it certainly does look like an insect has taken advantage
  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    @Dovefromabove were you thinking of Asian longhorn beetle perhaps? The hole is made by the larva boring its way out pushing out its frass (the strange orange stuff) as it does so.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    @steephill 😊 I’m sure that a couple of years ago we had a query with similar photos … and it was not the Asian beetle which is virtually unknown in the uk, but something similar but a bit smaller … I’m wracking my brain to remember but …. 🤯

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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