It looks telephone poled in the picture but it has been good for 5 years. I want to know if I can replace the tree with an oak? I feel bad it was starting to get some size to it. Should I avoid planting anything in the same area or just any platanus species?

oh come on.. that did not happen in the 3 months we call winter..

it may have appeared in that time.. but that has been going on for a long time.

and frankly.. the damage looks mechanical.. with bugs coming alone to attack an already stressed and injured tree ... looks like what happens when i clip a tree with the edge of the mower deck on the rider ... [which is usually just before i increase the mulch bed.. lol]

if it is mechanical ... then it wont matter what is replanted in the area ...

where i grew up.. sycamore anthracnose was the major problem.. check out the link.. but i dont know if it causes your problem.. probably not ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

I don't mow up to my trunk, as I put in my post, I have herbaceus ground cover. In the growing season there is variegated goutweed all around the tree, therefor no need to go close to the trunk. The tree has had anthractnose in the past but is leafless now and the tree has definately not been drought stressed. We have had constant moisture. There is a chance it started in the fall but I would have seen it if it were there longer. The tree was a double leader when I planted it, but I took care of that when it was young. You can see the groundcover starting to come up. I have a sign in the ground on the side of the tree it's pounded in the ground and make it impossible to come close to the tree without removing the sign. I never mow close to trunks, so don't go there with me. If anyone has any better ideas please say so. I did my own search and it said the tree has been stressed or it wouldn't have succumbed. I can't imagine what stressed it. If I wounded it I would not be asking about it. It is a crack not a scrape you're seeing. The tree was last infected by anthracnose spring2010 I believe. We are in an area where sycamore is very abundant and it is never bad enough to kill bunches of them. I bust my a*s mulching around all my trees and to be accused of bark injury makes me furious! Well anyway, I know it needs replaced without anybody telling me so, so I will just do that and hope my other trees don't get any problems like it has.

Root collar rot from being planted too deep? Still, the suddenness seems odd. You can forget about the anthracnose-that didn't cause this. But yes, it looks like a replant is in order. Sometimes stuff just happens and we never know why.

+oM

It was said "Still, the suddenness seems odd."

Sudden? Really?

I agree w/ Ken - that didn't occur within the past 3 months.

Can I third that the damage is older than three months? The edges of the damaged area appear to have put on a good amount of growth as far as closing the wound. If you do remove the tree, a cross section of the base would show just how long new growth has been creeping over the dead area, not unlike reading the rings of a cut tree for fire damage or drought years...

Don't kill the messenger over mechanical damage, as you can see from the upper part of the wound, dead bark will remain on the trunk covering the damage until the new growth underneath pushes it out enough to cause it to flake off. What I'm saying is the damage could remain hidden under the dead bark for years depending on the tree's growth rate.

If it's growing well you could almost leave it.... although it will be a weak spot for a couple years.... you could also cut it off at the base, it will likely sprout from the roots and you'll have a new tree in no time.... unless there is a root collar rot problem.

Of course it looks like mower blight. But OP said that hadn't been the case. It was from within that framework that I crafted my response. Any inferences beyond that are also beyond the scope of what can be offered on a forum such as this. Poaky says he didn't bang it with the mower. Hence, my effort was directed at trying to come up with other possibilities. Are some of you other guys doing something more by directly confronting him/her over this point?

+oM

Possibilities beyond mower damage: Sunscald? Circling root?

Are there grafted forms of Sycamore? And we could be looking at graft rot?

Sometimes it does not take much. One squirrell gets hungry a year ago...

Sycamore is fast growing. It just may encapsulate that. If the tree is within fifty feet of a home or something important I say remove. If it is out i the open and you like it and have time maybe plant a replacement nearby and in three years if both are healthy u might have to move the new whatever.

Good luck.

Yes, the tree needs a one-cut prune. If you look at the second picture you can see a horizontal crack in the deadwood. If you mentally extend this either direction you can see possible continuation on either side of the crack in the living wood. This may be reaching, but I would speculate that the disease entered through this possible wound? Poaky, you drink beer and got a machete? ;o)
Sorry about your tree. Oaks are much better than Platanus.
hortster

Sorry I got PO ed it's just not nice to have a tree that is getting big and it has to go and someone suggests you did something to cause it. If it is from a mower my dad may have helped cut grass a few years ago and I never saw the injury. I have been the only grass cutter the last couple years, and never came close to the bark. I even said it looks telephone poled. Why I didn't think that in itself was a problem is some Sycamores grow and do fine practically covered in cement/ concrete over most of their roots. I will just get rid of it. It will never recover long term. Toronado, the tree isn't grafted, it was a weed along some railroad tracks. No beer and machete hortster, the crack is facing north and I don't suspect sunscald. Well at least it's not too big to remove myself. Ken, I guess I asked for opinions and I got yours, whether I liked it or not.

Sorry I got PO ed it's just not nice to have a tree that is getting big and it has to go

===>>> i know how that feels.. and it always seems to be a favorite .. or the most expensive.. or the one i waited the longest to find.. to add to the collection ...

my point.. and i apologize .. if i did it with a lack of
decorum ... was simply that the bugs were not the issue ... removing the borer issue will not heal that tree ...

i suspect.. way to many peeps .. not necessarily us ... tend to want to chemically nuke plants when they see some bug ... and all i was trying to do.. was point out.. that
'fixing' the bug problem.. does not ID the problem.. nor fix the tree ... and that was something i was trying to 'teach' peeps.. other than the OP ... the audience.. is not simply OP ...

as for telephone poling.. been there.. done that.. and have been avoiding such.. as my experience level has gone up .... heck.. i bet when this tree was planted.. your learning curve was much lower ...

as to the tree today .... yeah.. it might be dying ... and it might only take it another decade to so .. or it may recover ... at this point there are only three issues ...

one... and usually my key.. is can you take it down for free??? ... if you wait another 5 years.. you might have to pay to have it taken down .... so i really try to make the ultimate decision before money becomes involved ....

two .... do you need the space ...

three.. will you enjoy the experiment of how it reacts to it all ... or will it bug you to no end.. every time you walk out into the garden .... e.g. on my 5 acres.. i can forget about it.. and watch it for a long time.. and have alot of room and a chainsaw to make it fall down ....

but back in suburbia.. in a small yard.. it would have driven my insane ... more so than usual ... and early removal would be in store ... but it always comes back.. to my ability to take it down for free ...

your enthusiasm.. and your collecting inspires me.. please dont let a bad choice of a few inartful words.. stop you from inspiring us with your collection... and your curiosity ...

once again.. i am sorry if i irritated the bee-gee-bees out of you.. THAT IS NEVER MY INTENT..

ken

ps: back when i had my first house.. dad used to come over and 'help' all the time .... it usually took me more time to fix it all.. than the job would have taken in the first place.. but boy was he inspired to 'help' ....

That's okay Ken, I get it now, at first I reacted to my feelings without realizing that you don't know that I baby my trees too much to come close to the trunk of my trees with the tractor/mower. I have plenty of room for doing it myself now (removal) and it looks too bad to trust it even though it's far from the house. I wanted to move my Quercus Muellenbergii anyway ( chinkapin oak ) I just need to make sure it's not too damp for it. The faster I move the Chinkapin oak and get it in the ground and remove the sycamore, things can get growing. The ground is well drained for about 20 feet then starts to drain slower in the dormant season and in wet growing seasons. Will Quercus Muehenbergii stand the slower drained soil about 20 feet from it's trunk for dormant season and in wet springs? I will be going to Florida for about a week but will try to check this site on another computer. I will just start another post about this.

Poaky,

All my sycamores that I transplanted from a local stream bed are experiencing similar symptoms. All experience large wounds like shown in your sycamore all over the tree. It girdles a few smaller branches each year. They will attempt to grow over and then die back again. I just cleaned out the trunk best I could and sprayed pruning sealer in the wounds. Not sure if they will make it also. I would try the oak.

Andyaceae

Here is a link that might be useful: previous post about sycamore damage

Poaky, sorry to hear about your sycamore! I bet the chinkapin oak will fit in very nicely in the spot as you have described it. Flooded roots in the dormant season are not usually near as big a deal to established trees as constant growing season flooding. Just get it though the first couple of years and you are set =)

John

Did some more research on the internets and I would guess (i'm not an entomologist ) the large area of damage at the base of your tree( and mine ) is by the larval stage of some sort of borer, just like you had mentioned in the original post. (plum, peachtree, sycamore). Major bummer, these trees are awesome in full size.

Here is a link that might be useful: Clearwing Moth Borer - Peachtree Borer

"I ... sprayed pruning sealer in the wounds."

Oooops!

"...the large area of damage at the base of your tree( and mine ) is by the larval stage of some sort of borer..."

Are you suggesting that the large dead area is due to borer damage? Am I misunderstanding what you are trying to say?

brandon7, it drives me crazy, too, when people say "I sprayed pruning sealer in (or on) the wounds." Ortho, and others, make big bucks from this blatant misconception. People need to be aware of and read more Dr. Alex Shigo.
Regardless of the vector that commuted and began the DISEASE that obviously is attacking the tree, be it borer, physical damage, etc., it certainly is not borer itself that made it look like this.
Poaky, DO THE OAK.
hortster

Andeacea, Your tree looks better than mine unless it looks worse in person. It looks healable to me, just bark shedding and the sycamore flaking etc. I am glad to hear that I can put the Chinquapin oak there, I have cherrybark acorns I could use but I have them already in another area and would rather get the Chinkapin oak moved out of the microclimate and on it's way to establishment elsewhere. Thanks for the input everybody.

Andy, your comments suggest, to me at at least, that there is some type of canker disease process prevalent in your area. I'm not too savvy on the Platanus as they don't occur much here, although there are a couple nice sycamores around, but isn't there a type of canker that does indeed limit this or another Platanus species' usefulness in parts of the country?

+oM