Sapsucker damage is impossible to prevent
Question: Can you tell what is damaging my 7-year-old blue ghost tree? This damage is about 12 feet high on the north side, and there is a line of holes in the trunk.
The blue ghost is a eucalyptus. This is most likely sapsucker damage, a relative of a woodpecker. I have been told by bird enthusiasts that they migrate through Southern Nevada at certain times of the year. They have been known to damage fruit trees, pines and others. I did not know of it on eucalyptus until now.
These birds feed on the sap of trees and large shrubs. They will also collect insects from these trees if they are breeding and feed them to their young. Sapsuckers are considered pest birds because of this damage. There really is not much you can do to protect the tree. We have tried metal screening like chicken wire with some success, but they usually go to higher spots .
Bob Morris is a professor emeritus in horticulture with the University of Nevada and can be reached at extremehort@aol.com. Visit his blog at
xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com. For more gardening advice, see the Home section of Thursday’s Las Vegas Review-Journal.