scfundogs wrote in news:552lunF22r0gsU1
@mid.individual.net:

Zone 8a/b:

We planted a Maple (I don't know if its a sugar, Japanese or other
variety..green all summer, orange & red in fall) about 8 years ago. Its
now 25' tall. The trunk started getting splits in the bark last fall.
There would be dark drip areas (sap?) that looked like it ran from the
splits.

Yesterday my husband was poking at the bark in one place to see if he
could figure out what was going on and huge chunks came off. He said
he saw some tiny insects moving around but they quickly disappeared.

I took some pictures of the trunk w/splits, the trunk with the missing
bark section and two pics of the underside of the bark. Can this tree
be saved? It has plenty of red buds on it so I'm hoping it'll be ok.

http://homepage.mac.com/taraosment/m...toAlbum18.html


I'm no authority on trees so I'll let someone else answer as to whether
it can be saved or not, but do you really want a huge tree with a weak
spot in the trunk? Have you ever seen what a tree branch does to the
ground when the weight of the tree is behind it as it blows over?
Imagine what it would do to a house or a car or a person.