skinned tree bark on small plants and bushes

   / skinned tree bark on small plants and bushes #1  

mechanic

Silver Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2004
Messages
211
Location
missouri
I've skinned some of my new trees and shrubs with the mower. Anyone have an idea how to repair this.
 
   / skinned tree bark on small plants and bushes #2  
If the damage was done within the last few hours you can try to put the skinned bark bach in place and wrap it with a cloth to see if the bark will reestablish itself to the tree. If it's been longer than that you can't do much but keep the tree well watered and healthy and eventually a scab will form over the damaged area.

If the bark won't reestablish itself, take a sharp knife and trim the edges smooth on the damaged area, the scab will form faster than if the rough edges are left.

The bad news is that the tree will never thrive like a tree with no damage will.
 
   / skinned tree bark on small plants and bushes #3  
As long as the bark is not skinned all the way around, it will most likely heal itself and be OK. There seem to be mixed opinions about wrapping a wounded plant. A wound is a great place for insects to enter a plant. Some say that wrapping such a wound provides an even better environment for the insects to set up house keeping than if you just left it alone. I don't know.
I have an oak with a trunk about 12" now. When it was maybe 6", borers attacked it and almost destroyed it. I sprayed the borers and killed them. But a gap in the trunk about 3" wide from the ground up to about 5' and I don't know how deep just died. After seeing how much damage there was, I decided to cut it down. But I forgot about it for a while and when I decided to go ahead and cut it down, I noticed fresh growth around the edges of the dead area. I decided to let it go and after about 4 years you can barely tell it was ever damaged. I planted another tree of the same size at the same time as that one. The damaged tree is only slightly smaller than the other. Plants have a pretty amazing ability to recover.
 

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