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Old 12-06-2007, 04:18 AM posted to rec.gardens
byron byron is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jun 2007
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Default Tree bark problems (deer, sun, ???)

Virtually all of my trees have bark problems (maple, oak, catalpa,
ash, locust). I planted them about four years ago. The bark is
peeling back, exposing the wood. This occurs only on sun-facing
surfaces (southeast to southwest) so I presume it's sun damage. A
local nursery told me to wrap them with plasitic spiral wrappers, but
these seem to foster insects and spider nests. They can also can bind
and "girdle" the tree. I suppose I could remove them and re-wrap them
every month or so...Are there better ways to deal with this? All of
the crowns look really good, but I'm worried about the trunks. The
wrappers also help inhibit deer gnawing. I think maybe the problem
began when the trunks were weakened by the deer chewing and rendered
more vulnerable to the solar radiation. Any ideas on this multi-
faceted problem would be very much appreciate.