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HI, I discovered this strange checkerboard pattern on about 5 of my big Viburnums yesterday. The pattern is worse in some plants, the pic shows the worst. It looks like something is eating away at the bark in this weird pattern. Anyone know what it is or what I should do? They are getting ready to bloom in a few weeks. Thanks! I am new to the site.
Not sure how to post a picture? I see the image button above[/img]

Don't know where you live but you might contact cooperative extension and ask them because they would be knowledegable about local conditions. Usually an offshoot of an Ag University

Picture of Viburnum problem
[img]https://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z421/LindaPrk/viburnumtoemail.jpg[/img][/img]

Linda, did you figure out what the problem and solution are. My Virburnum has the the same look on the bark. Did you find out what the cure is. Ike

I don't think it is a disease. Look at this picture:
That is sapsucker damage. Sapsucker is a kind of woodpecker. It is called that because it bores all those holes in the tree to make it bleed sap, which it eats. It also eats some of the bark and underlying tissue (cambium) of the tree.

To discourage sapsuckers from feeding on a favorite tree, wrap hardware cloth or burlap around the area being tapped or smear a sticky repellent material, such as bird tanglefoot, on the bark. You can also try hanging a foil pie plate from a branch near the damage, so that the pie plate swings, to scare them off.

The sapsucker can kill the tree if the damage girdles it. Even without that, the wounds can make the tree vulnerable to disease. So you do want to do something to protect your tree.

Here is the yellow bellied sapsucker:



It looks similar to other woodpeckers and does not in fact have a yellow belly, though it has a little yellow streak. They are fairly small woodpeckers. Only the male has the red on the throat. It has a black patch high on the chest under the throat and a long white stripe down the folded wing.

Have you seen this bird around? I think it is your culprit.

I wonder what percentage of people make 1 or 2 posts then never come back? I would guess maybe at least one-third.

They post a question, I write them a really good answer and they never come back to say yes or no, you were right or that doesn't fit or in this case, yes I have seen the sapsucker or no I have never seen it, how could it be doing all that damage?

I like closure and completion and all these are very unsatisfying....

Very neat pattern but too bad it's such a destructive bird. I've never seen one around here.
I found this site which gives more info about the sapsucker;
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yel ... ifehistory

Very cool! More than I ever knew about sapsuckers. I particularly liked this part:

The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker frequently uses human-produced materials to help in its territorial drumming. Street signs and metal chimney flashing amplify the irregular tapping of a territorial sapsucker. The sapsucker seems to suffer no ill effects of whacking its bill on metal, and a bird will return to a favorite sign day after day to pound out its Morse code-like message.

I'd love to see that!

I just bumped in to this thread again. Not too long after I posted "I'd really like to see that," I actually did! We had some kind of woodpecker (didn't get good enough look to tell if it was this one) drumming on our metal rain gutter. It did it several mornings in a row and then never again.