Metal toxicity in trees? 2 licensed experts telling me 2 opposite things
Hi all,
My wife and I just moved into our new house in the Baltimore area and are working on quotes for a few of the bigger projects in our backyard, including tree trimming. We have a gigantic pine tree that shows some signs of distress - yellowing pine needles, what looks like some sawdust/small wood chipping and some white sap on the ground under the tree.
All of the licensed tree experts from trimming/removal companies that gave us quotes on trimming referred us to a local company for a quote on treating for boring insects - someone from that company had a look and agreed but came back to inspect with their on-staff LTE. That person believes that the tree is dying from metal that was put into the tree sometime in the past(nails or whatever for a tree house? Nothing specifically visible), but the person we plan to hire for trimming work(also an LTE) says that the scientific consensus doesn't support metal toxicity as a likely/common cause for tree death.
My uninformed research online sees support for both positions, so now I'm wrestling with whether to treat for borers and cross our fingers or go straight to tree removal and spend at least $5,000(and remove a portion of fence, but that's not a huge problem, just more cost). I can't get a good feel for how much the contact person's role at the company that handles borer treatment is sales vs expert so I'm unsure of who to trust. What does this community think about metal toxicity killing trees?
Thanks in advance!
**EDIT** for added photos. Sounds like everyone's in agreement, but I worry it's too late for successful borer treatment anyway, I wish the contact guy hadn't dragged his feet so much.
