I came home from work today to find my Amber Ghost had fallen victim to some rodent who decided that peeling the bark from it would be a great past time. The damage can be seen below in the attached photos - what do you think, will this one make it? I am attempting to show 360 degrees around the perimeter of the trunk in the first five pics. I would estimate that I have a 80 degree strip of bark remaining connecting the upper and lower section... Really, really not happy about this. -CSL-
Hi CSL, It's certainly possible that your tree will survive. If so, it will sit there for a while (greatly reduced growth) and over the next few years the expanding "lips" of new cambium will gradually grow to cover the wound. But that's a lot of bark it's lost, no mistake. Maples can be amazingly resilient. A few years ago one of my rufinerves was damaged much worse than yours even, there was only a little strip of bark between two maybe 8 inch vertical sections of stripped bark; maybe 15 degrees covered in that part. The tree is thriving today, and almost completely healed over except in that one section where there is still a gap. Last winter I had spectacular deer damage to Mirte, Koshimino and a Higasa yama; all three are healing well. Koshimino was reduced to a stick but responded with huge growth. Higasa yama was broken in two and had big areas stripped, I taped it together and it has reacted very well, the wounds on the broken side are actually lipping over. So, there is hope, just a question of whether you want to stay the course with this plant and live with scarred bark (if it makes it) or just replace it. Good luck and sorry about your misfortune. -E
If the tree comes back this is what it may look like. The same thing happened to my sharp's pygmy about a year ago, although not quite as bad: About 50% of the circumference was skinned away. Thought she was a goner but managed to form a lip over 90% of the skinned away area over time. Still don't feel "out of the woods yet" (bad pun) as the very center of the area where the lips don't meet still seems like a sensitve area for pathogens this winter. A wider shot included for completeness sake.
Thanks for the responses, I do at least appreciate the sympathy. I really enjoy my trees, so seeing this yesterday while trying to show my wife my new Iijima sunago was rather upsetting. Even wore was the fact that it ate the back of the tree - so the side visible to me in the house was the green side - there was no saving any of the stripped bark unfortunately. I will of course try to nurse this tree back to health - hopefully it comes back around. Most of the information on the web (that I have seen) suggests that more then 50% is likely a lost cause. But we'll see - you just never know I suppose. I will move the tree into a cold storage area for the winter, perhaps this will limit the winter pathogens. But in any case, whatever did this (and I will find it) could have chosen a much more expensive tree in my yard to much on, so I am at least thankful for that. Regards, -CSL-
