Hairy Bark - what is it and why?

[Kid Fig]

Almost forgot to make a thread about this - my Dolca is kind of peculiar as it almost looks like alot of lenticels have formed on the well lignified wood.

Is this somewhat common and any guesses on why a (fig) tree would develope this especially when it's not as common?

Pic 1 - trunk with "furred" out branch
Pic 2 - same branch with alot of "fur"
Pic 3 - same branch (further out) with some "fur"

 

[ktrain]

What?!

I thought that was the trunk of a Snuffleupagus! lol

I've seen a little on a couple trees but nothing like that.

 

[GoodFriendMike]

Is the humidity high?

 

[RosyPosy]

Wow, I have not seen that before. Huh.

 

[RosyPosy]

If you scratch it, does it flake off easily?

 

[Kid Fig]

What?!

I thought that was the trunk of a Snuffleupagus! lol

I've seen a little on a couple trees but nothing like that.

I think I might nickname it Snuffy lol!

 

[Kid Fig]

Is the humidity high?

At the time I finally noticed it - it was late Fall.

But could it be that it being highly saturated with water is causing this?

 

[Kid Fig]

If you scratch it, does it flake off easily?

I'll do the scratch test tomorrow but I do recall it being almost scar like in texture.

 

[GoodFriendMike]

If it flakes off may be scale. But if not. High humidity can cause it.
Ever pull a rooting cutting just to see? You should not. But if you did you may see something like this.

 

[RosyPosy]

I'll do the scratch test tomorrow but I do recall it being almost scar like in texture.

The reason why I was asking is because the cut off area of the trunk next to it looks like it has had bark damage? It seems like something may be going on with the bark on that tree for you. It’s not lenticels and it’s not scale. It almost looks like little larvae but I can see they are not bugs and not alive, it seems to be something with the bark cells.

I just am wondering if they pop off if there is bark underneath them, or if that is the bark and it’s flaking off? It’s weird, it almost looks like the bark wants to come off.

 

[Figless]

@Kid Fig @Inflorescence @GoodFriendMike. Interesting symptoms, and some great questions. Let's see what happens tomorrow when @Kid Fig does his scratch test. I of course I'm very curious what the cambium layer looks like.

 

[Schoenie]

Just throwing in my 2 pennies...
Maybe there's a phyto-pathologist at one of the reference centers (Wolfskill / UC Davis, CA or elsewhere) that can tell you what this might be from just looking at your photos (or have you send in a piece for further research free of charge)... Some web-surfing might provide you with a contact. Alternatively, scientific publications often have the e-mail addresses of the corresponding author(s) on them...

 

[RosyPosy]

I’m worried you have some sort of boring insect. I could be totally wrong. But looking at your main trunk where the bark came off, it almost looks like there are tunnel marks. It’s hard to see because some of the pictures are blurry there. And it almost looks like the little squiggles on your branch leave a little pock like scar in the wood?

Where did you get your tree from?

 

[Kid Fig]

If it flakes off may be scale. But if not. High humidity can cause it.
Ever pull a rooting cutting just to see? You should not. But if you did you may see something like this.

I'm assuming mass lenticel formation - maybe it's the trees way of dispersing too much water (all my pots are in dish trays).

 

[Kid Fig]

@Kid Fig @Inflorescence @GoodFriendMike. Interesting symptoms, and some great questions. Let's see what happens tomorrow when @Kid Fig does his scratch test. I of course I'm very curious what the cambium layer looks like.

Fingers crossed nothing bad!

 

[Kid Fig]

I’m worried you have some sort of boring insect. I could be totally wrong. But looking at your main trunk where the bark came off, it almost looks like there are tunnel marks. It’s hard to see because some of the pictures are blurry there. And it almost looks like the little squiggles on your branch leave a little pock like scar in the wood?

Where did you get your tree from?

As far as the bark peeling back and the inner wood looking like a a dog was chewing on it I believe it's a combination of weathering and ants - I have ants in a few of my pots and they can crawl through under the bark when grown from a cutting with both ends cut (tunnel in from the bottom).

Got it from gardencrochet before they closed shop and ran away.

 

[Kid Fig]

OK I went ahead and rubbed off a small area and when the bumps fell off I went ahead and rubbed the rest of the bumps off on the branch

It is definitely superficial and the main trunk also displays those bumps but nit as prolific.

 

[Kid Fig]

So scale infestation?

 

[GoodFriendMike]

Possible. I have never seen that type of scale on my trees
Here they are roundish. But there are many type.
I just looked at this photo after you posted. https://citybugs.tamu.edu/2016/03/09/changing-retail-market/

 

[Schoenie]

I don't know how many types of scale exist, but when I recently discovered it on someone else his trees, it looked like this: