Please help...I'm In shock

[Taverna78]

My brother surprise me and unburried my my big trees... Can someone identify what was eating my trees please??? I have more pictures but I don't want to depress everyone with more pictures as I think they are not going to survive. Bark and green layers are eatin down to hardwood in spots

[HarveyC]

Voles?

[Taverna78]

That what we are thinking.
Harvey were devastated...... Look at tis.... This tree is my big one... Stands about 10 ft tall

[Taverna78]

They chewed off almost all nodes... Will they live or rebuild?

[sppsp]

I feel your pain. I hope for it's survival. I would take cuttings if possible. Can you prune tree and seal the cuts? It may survive.

[Altadena Mara]

That’s awful! I’m so sorry. We have chewing critters here that have girdled and wiped out a few of my larger trees. One not so tasty loquat is down to around only one inch of bark and has stopped fruiting completely. I don’t whether to air layer some branches on it and start over or just give up, since the flavor wasn’t that good.
The worst damage is done by the lawn cutter with his weed eater. I use a tree trunk protector now on my trees and vines as soon as I see bark near the ground beginning to disappearing.
Critters by whatever name can be destructive. I took my son’s beautiful sweet potato vine to my classroom in the inner city to show my class for a plant unit I was teaching. I made the mistake of leaving it over the weekend. The school rats completely destroyed it. I felt so bad for my son, because he was really proud of that vine.

[Chrisk]

Hey Taverna! Sorry about your trees! Do not loose hope. Fig trees are not as fragile as we think. If the root system is still strong they will deffinetly come back. Trim away all the obviouslly damaged parts but don't go crazy cuuting the whole thing down. Give it some time and see how it develops and give it a final pruning towards the end of summer after all growth has more or less been established ! New buds could pop up anywhere on the trunk. They don't not necessarily need a node to bud out! Best of luck and keep your head up. I realy think you can save them. Just make sure you plan on how to safely winterize them next fall. That will be your next big task!

[Bijan]

The process of going dormant includes storing energy in the roots. If the roots are undamaged, they should grow back... but anything above a complete girdle is toast.

[Rob Ster 010]

What Shailesh said, i would prune it for some cuttings as a back up and seal the wounds.
They might push new buds a bit lower than where the wounds are.

[fitzski]

It looks like mice or voles. That happened to my brother's fig tree and his experience was that if the limb was eaten all the way around ( girdled) the limb died but if they just ate the bud it sometimes regrew above the chewed part.

Either way, his fig also resprouted from the base. The new tree is 5 or 6 ft tall now.

[DaveL]

Hey Mike, sure having a tough winter/spring with your figs. Hopefully your tree is old enough to rebound. Good luck, buddy.

[Rafaelissimmo]

Sorry paisá.

[Taverna78]

Grazie my friends. The roots very big and strong and I take cuttings maybe 20. Tis my papa tree from Italia and is very old

[WillsC]

Wow Mike that is horrible......

[zone5figger]

Just when you think winter is over and smooth sailing ahead...snow melts to reveal that the nibblers have been busy under the cover of snow-that is a bummer! Shame that it happened to such well-developed trees such as yours.
I can relate, voles have been nasty pests for me the last two years in my nursery; girdling young apple trees and others. I put out bait last fall and that helped some. Stamping down the snow around the trunks of trees helps make a collar of ice that is a barrier to the tunnelers. Also 18" high hardware cloth cages around the trunks is a preventative strategy I use on some trees.
I'm sure your trees will regrow from the roots, a couple years from now they will be back in style. Best of luck!

[pppldj]

That looks horrifying. I know your heart sank. I agree with the others. Looks like mice or voles. They look like they all will live. The smaller ones don't look too bad. Are any of them girdled all of the way around? Definitely take some cuttings. Never did it, but I bet some of that big wood will root. Don't let the Italia tree get away. Maybe even some opportunity for air layering. I believe, at the very least, It will come back from the roots. I hope you tell us more about this Italia fig and its fruit.

[Darkman]

Big wood thumb size roots faster than small wood!

[pppldj]

Good to know!

[Taverna78]

Some parts of tree eating goes all the way around. Tis tree we use my brother machine for removing trees... Like big claw and goes into ground and closes and lifts everything out. Then we make trench and set down plywood. I think you can see in one picture.. We lay big tree down first then the smaller trees ontop of it and then one more layer of plywood and use bulldozer to push dirt over top for winter. We have been winterizing like tis for many many years and first issue is worst. The part I did not mention is they did not just eat tis one tree... They eat them all. I show you .... I still have a couple by my home and my sister home but is just sad because was his tree. I hope for the roots stay strong. But some do not look good at all. I have read yesterday.. Yes make cutting but do not seal because it could trap bacterial and and or make tree worst because it can't try to heal itself. I do not know.



PPP
tis tree my papa bring here many years ago from southern Italia where our home is (Taverna CZ Italy) he has a lot of land here in and on the mountains. Land is full of fig,hazelnut,chestnut and prune plum trees and wild berries and grapes. Tis is all natural wild trees. Not planted or farmed. The tree he bring here as a single pencil size tree with little root he sneak in his suitcase and has made it up until now. We have made 100's of babies from tis tree for gifts and just to replant. I guess we can only wait and see.

[pppldj]

Ugh! ... That is bad gnawing. Thanks for the story of your trees in your homeland. You should be able to get your special tree from Italia back from someone that you gifted one to. Way to go to preserve the line!

[greenfig]

For air layering , girdling helps to grow the roots faster. Maybe you elaborate on this and make a number of al's? They should grow better than cuttings and you layer huge branches.

[Taverna78]

If you see photo in my last reply I think there is too much damage to even air layer. I know I can do a few but most all of the trees are pretty naked... I do some reading and maybe tis will work? I copy and paste...

Regardless if it was a mouse or vole its a common thing with areas or land with lots of nesting areas ( piles of wood,shrubs,grass heaps ect) IF and only IF any of the trees are not chewed completely around the trunk any less than 70% on the main trunk (called girdling) before soil level it might survive. The bark is the trees vital vein armor. The green layer (cambium layer) is where the veins are to take the vitamins, nutrients and food that the leafs produce down to the rooting system. So if it's been chewed more than 30/40% there isn't enough veins to carry the food to the roots thus causing starvation and the tree will slowly die. Sealing it with tar or anything BESIDES a bridge graft (extremely hard to do and not guaranteed to work) Will not work because man made sealers can not act as a vein and you'll waist time and $$.
If I take my shears and sealer and prune back any tree with more than 30/40 girdle damage down below the girdling. Seal my cuts off water the roots well and it Should grow back from the root system?

[Taverna78]

If the girdling is all over the tree I assume the correct thing is to take all healthy cuttings I can and air layer the rest? I confused tho if girdling is done at the base of tree on trunk and others says anything above the girdling will be lost will air layer even work or should I take it down to the point below all girdling and seal the pruning? Also will air layer work on the trunks even tho they are about size of 12oz water bottle? Tis too thick ?

[drphil69]

Yes you can still air layer if girdled as long as you have nodes above the girdle. This is often purposely done to promote root growth for the air layer - all sugars produced by the leaves have no choice but to make roots there as they cannot progress any further down. Big branches can be successfully air layered.

Anything above the girdle will be lost as far as having it on the in-ground tree.

Very sorry for your damaged tree.

[Harborseal]

They will only grow back if there are nodes below the girdling. You could try scraping until you hit green and add some gibberellic acid. That may allow ordinary tissue to de-differentiate. It's been too many years since I looked in to it so that info may be dated.

[Taverna78]

There is green between cambium and white center core? And also I just think about tis... Will a cutting be able to root if nodes are chewed off??

[WillsC]

Mike,

Root yes but no nodes would mean no buds. Long as there are buds below the girdle it should come back.

[Taverna78]

aghhhh tree has roots 3 ft long healthy looking but I think lil patso eat below all node. Cazzo!

[drphil69]

Don't give up hope, there are often nodes you cannot see below ground level.