Question

Trunk  

trunk   Hello, I have a 9 yr old Weeping Willow that started looking stressed last year. We water it regularly as we live in Iowa. This year the bark is starting to fall off and expose the truck underneath. The tree trunk is deformed, not filling out completely to the bark. There are some bore holes midway up in a straight line around the smaller branches, but don't see any pests. This year many of the branches have what looks like seeds on it instead of leaves. I did dump a about 10 gallons of miracle grow and then more water on it, it helped the color but still doesn't look completely healthy. We also have a hard maple that about 4' of the trunk the bark is not growing all the way around. It looks like it was maybe injured when it was small but it was not as we planted it very small. Any help with either of these would be appreciated. I will try and attache some photos of both for you.

Answer
Randy:
This tree looks as if sustained some sort of injury, probably several years in the past. I would not be surprised that based on your description plus your photos that the tree does have some level of internal decay that will compromise the strength of the trunk.  I fully expect that the overall longevity is quite limited.  The tree may fail especially during a wind or winter precipitation event.  This tree may have sustained a wound through which decay organisms and insect probably have entered and set up housekeeping.  Unfortunately, there is no cure.  I would expect removal/replacement may be the best option at this point.

Steve