Hello lovely people at arborists. TLDR at bottom.
Long story short my mother used a grass trimmer in my garden and made some extensive damage to my apple tree’s bark. This happened about a year ago.
When it happened I attempted to repair as much of the damage as possible and wrapped the tree with some moss and cling film.
I guess my two questions are:
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can the tree survive with this much damage (I read somewhere that damage like this kills trees slowly and you might not tell for a year or two before the tree properly dies)?
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if it can survive, what can I do to help it’s recovery and chances of survival. (A friend of mine said that I should cut the “root shoot” closest to the bottom of the tree, but in my mind it might be what keeps the root sister from dying.
TLDR – damage to apple tree’s bark made with grass trimmer. Can it survive, and if yes how to better care of tree?
by 13ac0n
1 Comment
It might, apples are thought, but it doesn’t look good. That’s a large area of damage that the tree won’t recover from. If it does survive, I wouldn’t expect it to live long into maturity.
I’d move to replace it. When you do, look up proper planting techniques. Your tree looks planted too deep and the stone mulch isn’t good for the tree. Would chip mulch encourages all sorts of organic activity that keeps the soil healthy for the tree and actively works against decompaction of the soil which in turn leads to a healthier root zone for the tree. Mulch also helps the soil retain moisture. Stones don’t add any of these benefits. Make sure when you plant your that you find the root flair which is often buried in the nursery pot under soil and adventitious roots. The root flair is the depth you want to plant so that it is exposed.