On Wed, 26 Mar 2003 23:45:39 GMT, "Eric Goldsmith"
wrote:

At any rate, while I'll likely get a real arborist to take a look, I'd like
input from the group on this guys 'diagnosis'. According to my wife, who
spoke with him, he claims the damage is caused by "wood boring ants".

Avoid this guy. You may have enough decay to warrant attention from
an arborist, but the ants are an effect, not a cause. Trees are made
up mostly of dead wood. A living sheet of cambium lies just under the
bark, but, below that, not much goes on (which is why you can kill a
tree by cutting a ring of bark all the way round the trunk). Ideally,
the live tissue protects the dead wood from decay organisms and
insects, but often when a branch dies or the bark is damaged a window
is created that lets the decay into the heart of the tree. Most trees
have some decay in them and can tolerate it just fine, but when there
is too much damage the tree can fail. Silver maples are notorious for
decay problems, so it's worth having it checked out.

As for the ants, they just move in to make a nest in the resulting
cavity. They mine out the decaying wood, which can actually have the
beneficial effect of getting decay organisms out of the tree and
slowing their spread. Though there is probably some support lost with
the heartwood, most of the strength of the tree is in the living
cylinder that surrounds it. And, since the wood was decaying, it's
only a matter of when, not if. So leave the ants alone and get a
qualified arborist to evaluate the extent of the decay.

You can search for an ISA Certified Arborist by ZIP code at the ISA
site (see sig below). Another good credential to look for is
membership in the American Society of Consulting Arborists, which is
only open to arborists with a significant number of education credits.
http://www.asca-consultants.org/


good luck,
Keith Babberney
ISA Certified Arborist
For more info about the International Society of Arboriculture, please visit http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/.
For consumer info about tree care, visit http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/.../consumer.html