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

--
Tara

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.

On 2007-03-05 10:11:16 -0500, FragileWarrior
said:

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.

Good points I hadn't considered. I just hate to lose that many years
of growth. My neighborhood was practically treeless after hurricane
Hugo and very few people replanted trees. This one is finally starting
to cast some shade (the primary purpose in planting it) so I'm loathe
to start over.

--
Tara

scfundogs wrote in news:552t12F214tpbU1
@mid.individual.net:

On 2007-03-05 10:11:16 -0500, FragileWarrior
said:

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.

Good points I hadn't considered. I just hate to lose that many years
of growth. My neighborhood was practically treeless after hurricane
Hugo and very few people replanted trees. This one is finally starting
to cast some shade (the primary purpose in planting it) so I'm loathe
to start over.


Well, don't take my word for it since I don't know tree illness/repair.
I just know that we lost a tree once (that was healthy but couldn't
survive hurricane force winds) and when I saw how those limbs embedded
themselves into the ground, I got rather light-headed. I seriously never
considered what happens when a tree falls, I guess.

Just an update on the maple tree. I had an arborist come out today and
he said the tree is healthy, the problem is the bark in that area had
been hit with the lawn equipment one too many times. He also said the
splits in the bark are normal from growth expansion.

--
Tara

scfundogs wrote in news:5584naF23k6f7U1
@mid.individual.net:

Just an update on the maple tree. I had an arborist come out today and
he said the tree is healthy, the problem is the bark in that area had
been hit with the lawn equipment one too many times. He also said the
splits in the bark are normal from growth expansion.


Great news! So what did he recommend to protect the tree from malicious
mowing?

On 2007-03-07 10:56:27 -0500, FragileWarrior
said:

Great news! So what did he recommend to protect the tree from malicious
mowing?

Since my husband is the malicious mower, a good divorce lawyer! (just kidding)

He recommended pulling up the grass and laying a ring of mulch around
the tree about 2-3' out from the trunk.

The bad news is that I like the natural look of grass growing around
tree stumps. Also I haven't figured out how to keep my St. Augustine
grass from ignoring mulch. I really don't know how landscapers keep
this grass at bay. I don't see them hand-weeding all these commercial
landscapes.

The good news is that I'll have plenty of oak mulch since the same guy
will be coming to grind a huge pin oak stump in my backyard. He was
actually apologetic about his price but his price was much less than I
was expecting so its all good.

--
Tara

"scfundogs" wrote in message
...
The bad news is that I like the natural look of grass growing around tree
stumps. Also I haven't figured out how to keep my St. Augustine grass
from ignoring mulch. I really don't know how landscapers keep this grass
at bay. I don't see them hand-weeding all these commercial landscapes.



I have St. Augustine and lots of trees w/mulch. Best thing is to use some
sort of tree ring border that you can weedeat against- those runners are
very aggressive.

If you don't use a border of some sort you just have to edge frequently.


--
Toni
South Florida USA
USDA Zone 10
http://www.cearbhaill.com