Help:Potential maple disease/damage?

[Jhilliard6]

Hey guys, so today i noticed this area of dieback on the bark of my maple is getting a bit worse, but seems to have been sealed off by healthy wood around it...
is this something of concern? Pests? Disease?

Or is it just the natural dieback of old wood where a wound or similar issue took place?

Any and all advice will be appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[Tbwilson33]

The round holes make me think of a borer insect.

 

[Jhilliard6]

It is unlikely both in my area and with how vigorous this tree is, even with the damage present.

It has gotten worse over the passed month or two and so I feel it make be something else?

 

[Shibui]

Dead bark can be from sunburn or from infection. Usually the tree will be able to limit the spread. The dead bark will fall off to reveal dead wood underneath. There's nothing you can do to prevent that now. The damage is already done. If the area is not too big JM have the capacity to heal over reasonably quickly. To help with recovery I've been treating the dead area with lime sulphur (remove all dead bark back to live cambium first) to slow the wood rotting and sealing with a wound paste to help the scar tissue to grow faster.
If you have any concern this could be fungal infection I would use a preventative systemic fungicide to try to kill off any infection before trying to rehabilitate.

 

[Jhilliard6]

I treated the tree with a bayer systemic just to be sure, and plan to do get rid of the rotting wood and apply a sealant when i can get ahold of some to use.

Thank you for that information Shibui, it likely isn’t sunburn as it hasn’t been very hot lately, but I do live in southern Arizona and we experience very sunny days/hot afternoons (though my maples get shade passed noon).

I will see how things progress and hopefully no real damage is done other than some surface rotting.. which may end up not being so bad.
It’s such a vigorous tree though, I would be suprised if it became ill.

 

[Shibui]

Sunburn is often not noticed for months after it happens. To reach this stage with bark peeling off I'd estimate last summer if it is sunburn but by the shade on the trunk I guess this tree has a reasonably dense canopy in which case sunburn is not as likely unless you defoliated.
It is likely the wood under that flaking bark will still be solid. It is usually only the bark that is affected like this. You might be surprised how far the dead patch goes when you start scraping off the dead and dying bark. Also don't be surprised if it goes further down one or more roots when they discover there is no connection left to the leaves above. The full extent may take a year or 2 to show up.
Fingers crossed that you can recover something good from this.

And don't forget to disinfect all tools to prevent further spread

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

This is what it looks like to me. I suspect if you used a pick, you’ll find the left side of that base is soft and rotting out under the yellow section. If so, it’s best to clean it out, stop the rot, and get it sealed up with something like PC Petrifier.

The hole in the upper part looks drilled, but if it wasn’t, I’d stuff a Malathion-soaked Q-tip in there, then seal it.

 

[Tbwilson33]

This is what it looks like to me.
View attachment 244367

Yes those holes are too perfectly round for it to be fungus or sun damage