Need help saving this tree

bradleyheathhays

I've got a sugar maple with some bark damage stretching a number of vertical feet. As its showing retarded leaf growth this year, I'm trying to save this tree and I'm wondering if there is any kind of sealer I should trowl onto where the bark used to be, to act as a kind of sealer band-aid. I'm not sure what the wound is from, but its about 3 ft tall by 4in wide with some of the bark peeling off.

Brent Ferris

Need pics of wound, tree, base of trunk from 4 compass corners, and size of leaves this year vs normal size, and if possible, pic of end of branch - say12-14" long.
Sounds like root strangulation, and if so, and the leaves are much smaller than normal, the likelihood of saving the tree is small.
WOund dressing seldom helps the tree -- it is more for your peace of mind. The tree sets up barriers within the trunk to minimize the effect of wounds, and as long as these are not compromised, the tree can usually compartmentalize the wound, and continue growing.
However, with smaller than normal leaves, how well the wound "heals" may be a moot point -- the tree may be dying. Need to get an arborist in to assess the situation. Sorry for bad news.

bradleyheathhays

Thanks for helping buddy. I'll post the pics I have now and I'll try to get more up soon.

Here's pics of the wound...






This is where the tree tried to repair itself...




This one is to get an idea of its canopy. Leaves are pretty much all over the tree but maybe about 20% of their normal size. This tree's normal canopy is very lush. Here it is...




And lastly here's one of one of the few full sized leaves on the tree. There are maybe only ten like this...




I'll try to get a pics up of the trunk and branch end as soon as I can. Thanks for all the help!

bradleyheathhays

Dunno why the pics didn't show. I'll have to work on this some more when I've got a little more time. Off to work now.

Jeff Darby

Hi,

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bradleyheathhays

OK. I've re-sized to 800p width so hopefully I can get this done right this time.

These pics show the wound which is about 6 in wide and up to 4 ft tall. A picture of where the tree tried to repair the wound. And a picture of the overall canopy. Most branches have about 80% of the leaves they had last year, but a few branches have no leaves at all. The leaves that are there are almost all maybe 20% of their normal size. The top of the tree is fully leaved with the same small leaflets. I'll try to get pics of the base of the tree up as soon as I can.

Something odd though... For the past few years there has been a spot of ground about 15 ft away from the tree which just began slowly sinking. Well, this year that ground gave completely in when. Turns out we've found what we think is some kind of thinly buried septic tank who's concrete ceiling has been giving in. About 6 in under ground we've found about a 8 x 6 x 4 ft tall little 'room' made of cinder block, dirt floor, w/ a 6 in tube emptying into it from the direction of the house. Weird. The guy who used to live here was a real army kind of do-it-yourselfer.

Anyway, so yes there's been some fairly significant ground disturbance that could have effected some of the tree's roots. Although, in the ground which has caved through I don't believe I can see any roots that have been damaged.

Until I'm able to get an arborist over I'm just going to do the only thing I know might help, which is to water the tree lots. Any advice on anything else I can do to help this guy would be much appreciated. I'm not gonna try forever. I just want to give it a good effort until I know he's really gone.

Hopefully here's the pictures...

Attached Thumbnails

         

Eric Frei

It might have been struck by lightning.

The rolls of woundwood at the edges is a good sign.

It will be hard to prevent the existing heartwood from decaying, pretty much no sealers etc work.

I would suggest you very carefully remove the dead bark from around the wound, trace it back to living bark, cut with sharp knife if necessary where the dead and new bark meet.

Hey, have a look at this thread.

Another fungi ID

Now it is important to keep the trees vigour up, so that means proper mulching, soil conditioners, moisture levels etc.

The wound, you can religiously spray or paint it with tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil or neem oil ... that'll keep most borers and bugs away coz it stinks.

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bradleyheathhays

Thanks a ton Eric for the good advice!

I'll be throwing down a couple bags of mulch around the base soon.

We've had a really dry last half of the summer so right now I'm watering all the area around it twice a week for like 36 hours straight to make sure its hydrated enough. Water bill is def going to go up a bit, but thats ok.

I'm not sure what is meant by soil conditioners, I'm just not sure what they are. Is that something perhaps I would mix with water and apply to the soil?

Thanks again Eric.

bradleyheathhays

Here's the base of the tree. It grows right up next to a cinder block wall so there are only three pictures for its base.

Attached Thumbnails

     

bradleyheathhays

bump

Any more advice with the additional pictures of the base?

Brent Ferris

I'll go with Eric - lightning damage probable. And the callus tissue either side of the wound suggests several years ago. THe cinder block box has likely been in long enough, the tree would either have grown around it or adjusted to it. For small leaves, suggests it is not getting enough nutrients, or water, or there is a problem with the soil ie the previous owner changed/added something to the soil affecting uptake of nutrients. Sounds like you are watering plenty. Try a soil pit 1-2 feet from the tree, without hitting roots dig down 18-24 inches (12-16 inches square) and see if or how the soil changes, If you are on regular farmland you should have topsoil (A horizon) - dark soil, followed by a lighter band (B), and then C and if on clay, C will be all clay, and B will have some topsoil and some clay mixed in. If you're on sand, it will be all sand. But there may be a surprise below, and a soil pit may reveal that. Take pics of the face, and when the pit is done, take pH of the topsoil,

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Your "weird little room" is an attempt to create a dry well to direct excessive water away from the house foundation.

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