I have a 60 year old silver maple in my backyard. 2 years ago, I had a friend housesit for me and he used my tree as a target for axe throwing.
Stupid. Idiotic. Extremely disrespectful to me and the tree. He “wasn’t thinking” and now knows it was wrong.
You can still see the axe marks in the tree and it’s missing bark. I’m worried this is going to rot out and turn into a giant hole. This tree provides all the shade for my backyard and would cost over 10k to remove. I love it and I wanna keep it as long as possible. So how can I prevent further damage/rot? Is there some kinda paint I could put on it? Or wrap it? I don’t know.
by heythereitsemily
12 Comments
It’s fine. If you are really worried you can smear peanut butter on it.
The wound will introduce rot and probably wont compartmentalize anytime soon but its still got most of its cambium intact. Itll keep growing just fine. Maybe poke it some in 5 years.
I would aggressively leave it alone.
Flex seal
/s
Monitor the shit out of it- but let it do its thing. You likely won’t need to get involved
My 60 year silver maple was pared off to a 6 foot stump 20 years ago…. It’s back up to 40 feet tall…. It’s just a weed, it will come back.
Your neighbors must have been real happy 😆
Switch out friend. It wouldn’t hurt to fertilize the tree as well. If you don’t know what you’re doing get a company with an arborist on staff. Or just leave it alone and it will be fine.
Just when I thought I knew all the reasons I would never let a friend “house sit” you managed to add to my list. I would never have thought of that one but sure as hell would be very upset.
Do nothing
Any more pics of that root flare? I’m almost finished.