I noticed the other day that one of my vine maples has a crack in it's bark. I believe the crack to have been caused by the stress of bending-- it is starting to lean/fall over. The crack is all the way through to bark and about 5 inches long. The tree is still very healthy, old, but healthy and i'd like to know if there is anything like a patch or sealer i can safely use on the crack to help it stay healthy. Any suggestions would be helpful. I know nothing about this kind of gardening. Thanks, Anne
If you could post a picture, it would be helpful. Without seeing I'd guess that if the crack is vertical it's not serious. Sometimes a variation in moisture conditions -- drought followed by very wet -- can cause natural cracking of this sort. Best bet is to leave it to dry naturally, don't apply sealer, IMHO. Just discovered a crack of nearly 2 meters (vertical) in the smooth skin of an otherwise healthy silver maple. I'll keep an eye on it, but hopefully not serious! -E
My camera is broken, so sad, but i'm borrowing my sisters this weekend for a family outing so i'll take a picture of it. It's a "J" shape crack, with the curve of the "J" going horizontal across the back. The tree itself is leaning at a 45 degree angle and I'm guessing the crack is a result of the lean and it being top heavy. It's hard to explain, I'll post a picture this weekend.
that a very good idea, though i'm not sure how i will do it as the crack in the tree is about 20 feet up-- it hangs over our second story deck. I know, I know it just gets more and more complected. i'll be able to post a picture tomorrow, as my camera remains broken and i haven't gotten my sisters yet.
i've added some photos. Thanks to everyone whose made suggestions to me so far. I hope that these photos help.
Anne .... I think that your tree has become positively dangerous That bough should be removed completely for safety reasons, before somebody gets hurt
Hi Anne, I don't think you want to put anything in the cracks. But Whis4ey is right, it looks like a hazard. Maybe you can figure a way to prop it, with a large post of some kind. I've seen this done in various arboretums with trees that put out heavy horizontal branches. It would be a shame to have to lop it off, but safety first. Does the tree have other large branches? -E
Trees supported in aboretums are treated thus before damage occurs Here the damage looks fairly severe, and I would imagine that any sort of strong winds would have it crashing down There is a tremendous weight in boughs as big as this one, and that weight will only serve to further open the crack and enhance the possible danger
thanks for all the advice, we were looking in to ways of propping it, until we had all that rain and over the course of a couple days it very, very slowly laid itself down. We had it resting on the railing of the deck, until we had the time to cut it down, unfortunately. Though when we did cut it, the bottom of the trunk pulled out of the ground extremely easily and we discovered that about 75% of it's base was rotten. So there really wasn't much choice in the matter. We're saving the wood, though to make a bird feeder stand and some candle holders. I hate losing trees, it makes me feel sad. Again, thanks for the advice. Anne
You were lucky that it died 'peacefully' without causing damage or injury The fact that you have firewood and timber for next winter is an added bonus Life and death are normal conditions, and I have found in the past that trees can be dying for a considerable time before visible signs are apparent
