What caused this defect in the ponderosa?

[Buddy]

As you can see in the pictures almost every large limb on this pine had a dead strip on the top of it for about 24" out from the trunk. My guess is that there is a high probability that this tree is rotten in the center but I don't know for sure. I had to take the dead top out of it today along with a few big dead limbs. It appears that bugs killed the top on the right side but didn't effect the left side.

 

[SkwerI]

Freeze damage, possibly.

 

[Buddy]

I don't know Sqwerl, it was only 7 degrees here this morning...

 

[BOTS]

That pondo looks to be a gonner! ....bark beetle takes em from the top down.

Mabey branches partial stripped because of a lightning strike in its earlier days...

 

[SeanKroll]

My guess is that there is a high probability that this tree is rotten in the center but I don't know for sure.

1/4" or 1/8" drill bit tells lots, cheaply.

 

[Buddy]

Ya Bots it's not in very good shape. Sean, I thought about that but it's out of my hands now. It will probably be removed in the spring. The subdivision has a guy with an excavator and a dump truck that works pretty cheap on anything that isn't technical.

 

[flushcut]

What do you guess the age of the tree is?
I remember watching the Treehouse Project with Jerry and on that redwood a fair number of the large mature limbs showed the same decay pattern. I wonder if it's part of the maturation process. Part of me wants to say sun scald but I am only guessing from my recliner and pines have pretty dense canopies.

 

[SkwerI]

When I suggested freeze damage it was an idea I had from when I visited cousins in Connecticut about 15 years ago and climbed a few trees for them. One tree had similar damage on all the exposed limbs and after some discussion I guessed that it was freeze damage from either an early or late freeze several years earlier. My guess was that the sap froze in the limbs causing them to crack from the inside.

At first I thought it looked like sun scald as well.

 

[stig]

Lightening strike would be my guess.

 

[Buddy]

Thanks for the ideas guys

 

[SeanKroll]

I'd go toward sun injury.

Never seen lightning damage like that.

 

[Burnham]

I don't think lightning either.

I have seen similar damage on Douglas fir that have been climbed in the spring when the sap is running and the bark is loose. Boots cause it, by friction. Seems fairly unlikely in general, but that's my observation, fwiw .

 

[Mellow]

I've seen similar damage on oaks here in Florida caused by squirrels(not Skwerl) chewing on the bark.

 

[SeanKroll]

I've seen that on maples here, seemingly from squirrels, or the like.

 

[Raj]

I see that often up here, wide variety of trees. I'm almost sure it is squirrels. I've notices over the years if I prune it off, 3 or more branches will get the same later on.

 

[Buddy]

Or a porcupine maybe...

 

[Raj]

From my firewood.

 

[Buddy]

That's what it looks like. I think this chewing critter idea is very plausible.