I was outside with my dog and when I wasn't paying attention she damage my recently planted Japanese maple. Will it be ok? Is there something I can to or just wait and see? I did order some trunk protectors early today but I fear it's too late. The worst part is this tree is supposed to be a memorial tree and if it dies I'll be very upset.
by momomonkey44
3 Comments
Not an arborist but they told me on my post that if 50% of the circumference is off then it’s over. Idk how a dog could do such perfect scrapes but also being that it’s near the base is alarming to me. It still looks like a baby so you can still do a memorial tree! I had the same thing happen with my cherry tree but mine l wasn’t this aggressive
Not an arborist. But I have seen people transplant branches and make cuts that look very similar to that. They would place the new branch in the cut and bind them together tightly, and they would eventually heal and come together. Long story to say try wrapping it so the bark is back against the trunk and hopefully it’ll heal.
You’ll want to work quickly before it dries out anymore, but since the bark is still present you flatten the bark back onto the stem and wrap the area firmly in cling film or similar.
After that it’s wait and see, the bark might graft back to the stem and bridge any small gaps, but you’ll want to leave it for a couple years before checking. The wrap needs to be plastic so as to be water tight.
Such a young tree will have the vigour to survive even if the bark doesn’t “heal” so with out anymore damage I reckon it’ll survive.