29 October 2016

After taking video of the foam coming from a beetle entry hole, the next step was to open it up and see what was producing the foam. Below are photos and a video.  The video takes us from the surface to the beetle gallery. Note the white gel-like substance. That is probably the source of the gas in the bubbles. No beetle was found, but we may have touched a beetle elytra.

Please share your ideas on this.

Some foam still being produced at the western oak bark beetle entry hole.

After wiping away the foam, the hole is visible. The foam was very slow to come back, compared to what we saw in the earlier videos.

The beetle entry hole from farther away.

After one ‘layer’ sliced away, we can still see foam coming out of the hole.

The overall look of the beetle gallery, where the foam is coming from.

Another layer sliced away takes us to the beetle’s chamber. Note the white gel-like material.

A close-up of the beetle chamber with the white gel-like material.

A close-up of the beetle chamber with the white gel-like material.

This is a picture of the back side, or underside, of the second slice, showing that white gel is there also.

29 October 2016.

We found a western oak bark beetle, Pseudopityophthorus pubipennis, in one of the cankers of the Cooper2 live oak branch. Cooper2 is an interior live oak infested with foamy bark canker. The beetle was small, about one and a half millimeters long. Sample collected 29 October 2016, by Paul Cooper.

The branch that has the beetle, to show the size of the branch.

The red arrow points to the beetle. It is at the top of the ‘T”.

Here is the beetle gallery, with the beetle removed.

The beetle removed from the canker is about one and a half millimeters long.

29 October 2016.

Paul Cooper collected the branch on Cooper2, as seen at this page. The image of the branch is below, and the red circle indicates the area that the following video and photos were taken from. We were able to video, and photograph, the holes emitting foam.

The diameters of the holes are about 0.25-.33 millimeters. Each foamy spot is associated with one of these tiny beetle entry holes.

Live oak branch, from the foamy bark canker infested tree, “Cooper2”.

Paul Cooper collecting the foamy bark canker infected branch. Photo by Margie Cooper, 29 October 2016.

Foam coming from beetle entry hole. Specimen collected by Paul Cooper, 29 October 2016.

Foam coming from beetle entry hole. Specimen collected by Paul Cooper, 29 October 2016.

Foam coming from beetle entry hole. Specimen collected by Paul Cooper, 29 October 2016.

Foam coming from beetle entry hole. Specimen collected by Paul Cooper, 29 October 2016. The six dots of light are reflections of the LEDs on the digital camera.

25 October 2016.  Paul Cooper reports that he found another foamy bark canker infested live oak, in Greenhorn Creek, across the street from the Cooper1/golf course tree. This interior live oak tree does not appear to have cankers down at the base, but shows foamy attacks higher up, in the newer, and thinner, bark.

The tree is declining rapidly. This is more striking, being that Scott Oneto, Paul Cooper, Allan Ramorini and two of his lead men, and I, were at the “Cooper1 tree” about a  month ago, and none of us noticed any decline in this second tree, that is just across the street. The fading of Cooper1 was obvious, but none of saw it. Now, it is readily apparent that this tree is fading fast, and that this fading took only about one month.

To support this claim, we again took the July 2012 Google Street View image, and the 2 April 2015 Bing Street View image, and placed them here to compare the tree over time. Again, the tree shows no decline in the previous years. To see this tree, as well as Cooper1 (across the street), use this link.

“Cooper1”, on left was the “Golf Course” tree that was sampled for foamy bark canker in September. Now, we have “Cooper2”, dying, across the street from Cooper1. This decline appears to have occurred within a month.

Foamy cankers are apparent higher up, on thinner barked branches, but not found on the lower trunk. 25 October 2016. Photo by Paul Cooper.

Foamy cankers are apparent higher up, on thinner barked branches, but not found on the lower trunk. 25 October 2016. Photo by Paul Cooper.

Cooper2 shows a general overall decline, and it is happening very quickly. 25 October 2016. Photo by Paul Cooper.

Cooper2 shows a general overall decline, and it is happening very quickly. Cooper1 is on the left side of the road. 25 October 2016. Photo by Paul Cooper.

Cooper2, 25 October 2016. Photo by Paul Cooper.

Cooper2 live oak, in the July 2012 Google Street View.

Cooper2 live oak, in the April 2015 Bing Street View. The arrow points to Cooper2.

Lab analysis has confirmed that the live oak near the golf course is a victim of foamy bark canker. I found some older images of this same tree using Google and Bing Street Views. The Bing photo is the most recent, dating from 2 April 2015, and was taken when the sun was behind the tree, putting the bole in shade, making resolution difficult. But the tree is clearly in excellent shape. It appears to have grown well since the 2012 Google image was taken.

In September 2016, the oak was half dead. That means that in less than 18 months, the tree went from healthy and vigorous, to severely infected and dying.

The dying live oak, 24 October 2016. Photo by Paul Cooper.

The dying oak, 28 September 2016. Photo by Scott Oneto.

The golf course live oak on 2 April 2015. Bing Street View.

The live oak in July 2012. Google Street View.