Tree identification and whats damaging it?

nanobyte, Aug 10, 4:10am

We found this tree in a bush area on some land we bought, its tall so we couldn't get a good photo of the branches/leaves. The bark is crumbling away on one side.

Damaged side:
https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1379916274.jpg https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1379916351.jpg Other side of tree https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1379916806.jpg

Does anyone know what this tree is or what's causing the damage?

hulloitsme, Aug 10, 4:16am

Judging by the bark, it's a Rimu. No idea what's causing the problem though.

lythande1, Aug 10, 4:18am

Borer

rainrain1, Aug 10, 5:14pm

Wow that must be ancient to be that big, Rimu are extremely slow growing

lakeview3, Aug 10, 5:50pm

I am thinking it’s either a Rimu or Kahikatea. Either way if it’s both it seems very old and it just looks like rot associated with age to me.

Not much you can do about it. Eventually the tree will fall.

wembley1, Aug 10, 6:35pm

Probably rimu. Have a look at the forest floor. If the ground around the tree is cover with dried https://www.conifers.org/po/da/cu12.jpg then it's rimu.

peacebird15, Oct 8, 1:43am

I think rimu, you can see some of the needles in the photo

My guess is that there was root damage done by a heavy machine or something similar a few decades back which caused that sector of the tree to decline and die all the way up the trunk. The borer showed up after the problem.
Borer get blamed for tree damage all the time, but its often like blaming maggots for killing people. The show up after the issue

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Tree identification and whats damaging it?

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