Young white peach completely girdled around the trunk due to my own complete carelessness in watching how fast it was growing. This happened in a year. I’ve popped the screws out so the tree can naturally push the metal away from itself, but I’m unsure if i should go further and dig the rest of the metal out. Any and all advice is appreciated. I really did fuck up here. Are there any products I should be applying to help it heal and protect itself? It’s the middle of winter, so it’s unable to do much for itself right now.
Edit: I am getting a lot of conflicting advice. Would you all mind explaining your reasoning with the comments?
by FlounderAdvanced8260
21 Comments
At this point you’re probably better off leaving it, only thing I can think of to reduce damage further would be using an oscillating cutter with a carbide grit bit to split the ring into a few sections, just to reduce the restriction it creates as the tree grows. Trying to remove the pieces will likely spell the end of the tree at this point
you just need to plant the replacement now. this tree will not survive
I would just try to cut the ring into multiple pieces and left it there. Tree will survive.
prune to ground level is my advice or let it grow and let nature take its course.
it will swallow the metal. if you have someone remove in future try to let them know there is metal inside haha!
By all means leave it be to see how it gets on, I wouldn’t hold out hope though and would go about planting it’s replacement asap
Take it off! Don’t listen to this bs!
I would remove the ring now. I think there’s a good chance you girdle it if you leave it there, even if you loosen it or try cutting it into pieces. You might try bridge grafting across the wound after you’ve removed the ring.
I recently saw a maple tree that survived something similar. Wire had been wrapped around it, but it actually grew past the wire and the cambium reconnected on the other side.
Also, by the way, you’ve got some White Prunicola Scale on the tree.
Not good. I’m actually concerned more regarding the structural weakness than anything else.
I’ve seen this before where high winds have snapped it clean off at the girdling point due to the increased stress placed there.
I would start over with a new tree.
Bruv just leave it, nobody is actually wrong here my bruv! This looks bad but I believe it’s 50/50 either way you go! Different kind of trees but I’ve been in the top of oaks and pines and have hit things like this 80ft up with a climbing saw bruv.
What on earth was the purpose of this in the first place?
What was it on there for?
> Would you all mind explaining your reasoning
Healthy trees can handle some serious abuse. So it might be fine if nothing else happens to it. But it won’t be very resilient to other issues.
If it gets much bigger it will have some serious weight and height which could make it not only compromised but also dangerous.
Is it really worth the risk? If it grew that much in a year I recommend just cutting it down and planting another one.
Young peach tree? Rip it out and put another one in.
r/treeseatingthings
>conflicting advice
LoLoL It’s Reddit. People don’t come here for answers, they come here to learn from everyone’s opinion. If you want actual answers, contact your local extension service.
A lot of both sides here. This tree will survive, can we get a whole picture of the tree? If it’s healthy it should be fine. I’ve seen people just leave the girdle and the tree grows around it. Am I saying it’s the right thing to do? No. I’m just saying the tree should survive and not be to bothered by the “damage”
It’s insane how fast peach trees can grow. I planted a peach and a pecan a year ago, they were both about 4-5 feet. The pecan is now about the exact same size as when I planted it, while the peach has at least tripled in size, maybe quadrupled.
Chainsaw
If the tree isn’t threatening a structure, and won’t in the next 20 years, very little risk in letting it go, or going at the ring a little more to break it up or get it off.
If it’s important to have a good tree here you could consider planting a second tree nearby as insurance.
Given that a lot of fruit trees are grafted anyway, maybe you could cut it below the ring, split it, and graft one of the branches back in as the new main leader.