Plant Problem Diagnosis Key / Pests
Sapsucker damage
Sphyrapicus spp. (yellow-bellied and red-naped sapsuckers)
Woodpeckers that drill rows of shallow holes to feed on sap and the insects it draws. Most trees shrug it off; heavy, repeated drilling can girdle a branch or a thin-barked tree such as birch.
Signs
- Rows of ¼-inch holes, horizontal or vertical, usually between branches.
- Holes all about the same size; sap weeping from fresh ones.
- Evenly spaced, unlike the scattered holes borers leave.
What favors it
Trees with sweet sap, especially pine, birch, maple and apple.
Prevention
- Wrap or screen the drilled section while sapsuckers migrate through in spring and fall, then take it off; wraps left on year-round invite disease.
- Hang shiny streamers or other devices that flash in the wind near the tree.
Crops it shows up on
Shade & ornamental trees; Apple, pear & stone fruit; Evergreens & conifers (pine, spruce, juniper).
Often confused with
Sources
- Woodpeckers and SapsuckersMontana State University Extension
- Yellowbellied sapsuckerIowa State University Extension
Treatment by crop
Cultural, biological and chemical options in the order to use them, and notes written for each crop.
Identification is free. Treatment is on the Home and Pro plans.
Questions in the key that lead here
- Look the plant over, leaf undersides included. Are insects, mites, slugs, eggs, webbing or droppings on it?
No, only damage or discoloration - Where is the problem?
A tree or shrub - Which part of the tree or shrub shows the problem?
The trunk or bark - What is in or on the bark?
Neat rows of small square holes
Not a match? Start the key or describe what you see.
More photos
More from university Extension: search Extension pages on sapsucker damage, or find a plant diagnostic lab through your state's Extension.
Other pests
- Aphids
- Bagworms
- Bark beetles of pine and spruce
- Broad mites and cyclamen mites
- Caterpillars
- Cicada and twig-cutting damage
- Colorado potato beetle
- Cucumber beetles
- Cutworms
- Elm leaf beetle
- Emerald ash borer
- Flea beetles
- Fungus gnats
- Galls on leaves and twigs
- Hemlock woolly adelgid
- Japanese beetles
- Lace bugs
- Leafminers
- Mealybugs
- Pine sawflies
- Root aphids
- Root-knot nematodes
- Russet mites
- Scale insects
- Shore flies
- Slugs and snails
- Spider mites
- Spongy moth (gypsy moth)
- Spotted lanternfly
- Squash bugs and stink bugs
- Squash vine borer
- Tent caterpillars and fall webworm
- Thrips
- Whiteflies
- Wood borers