Hey apple experts - did the weather do this?

[Native Hunter]

I've been around apple trees all my life and never seen anything like this. I have seen tree bark damaged at the ground line on the south side where the sun hits frozen wood but its usually just a small spot at groundline. I generally put a small piece of pipe there to prevent the sun from hitting it, and that has always worked.

This is a Liberty, about 5th leaf on MM106 rootstock. This is how I found it and I bent back that one place on the bark just to see if it was still green, which it is. And, this is on the south side of the tree.

We have been through record breaking cold here this year. No other trees close by have been affected, but I think the others are MM111 instead of 106.

Looking for conclusive thoughts on what happened and what to do.

 

[chummer]

That is my bet. 6-8 of my pear trees did that last year.

 

[Native Hunter]

That is my bet. 6-8 of my pear trees did that last year.

Wow, did they live?

 

[chummer]

The cracks started about two feet up. These were under 4' of snow for over 3 months. All the new growth came between the graph and where the crack started. Everything from the crack up died. They tried to push out leaves but they shriveled up and never opened. I had to remove the tops of the trees. Mine were going on their second leaf and 5-7' tall. Hopefully being an older tree it will heal up.

 

[Native Hunter]

The thing that worries me the most is that the bark seems loose from the trunk. I think you could easily peel it completely off with your fingers.

 

[chummer]

The thing that worries me the most is that the bark seems loose from the trunk. I think you could easily peel it completely off with your fingers.

That is how mine looked. Almost like paper you could just peel right off.

 

[chummer]

I painted all my trees last year. I went all the way around. I hope that wasn't wrong.

 

[sandbur]

I was waiting for maya to confirm the problem. Perhaps it is something other than sunscauld.

For sunscauld,I used some white paint this fall.

I have read where some horticulturists in Minnesota recommend leaving a low limb on the south side of a tree to shade it. I also do not keep a clean area on the south or southwest side of a tree. Leave some weeds grow up around the trunk. Don't m0w or roundup the south side of the tree. I have done both.
I also quadruple the thickness of the aluminum window screen on the south side to shade the trunk.

I finished up what I call pruning and have to admit that I am very much a greenhorn at it.
However, I have fears that well spaced limbs that leave portions of the trunk bare on the south side are asking for sunscauld at higher distances above the ground. I seem to see a bit of this on trees I was working on.

 

[Native Hunter]

Thanks guys. I do leave a lot of grass around the base and as stated earlier sometimes protect with a small sun shield of some type. I had never seen anything like this.

 

[Native Hunter]

I sent an e-mail to the nursery I bought most of my apple trees from and below is his reply. He is more hopeful than I am about this healing, but I will give his suggestion a try. I'm also going to gently wrap a string around the bark to hold it against the tree. Then when (and if) the healing starts I will cut the string:

That’s a pretty serious split you have there, Steve! There’s several reasons this can cause this to occur but most likely it’s due to freeze damage. In late winter-early spring severe cold followed by rapid thawing can cause the bark to split dramatically like this tree. I’ve seen this frequently on our trees when conditions are right. Luckily, it is a not a “girdling” wound which would mean certain death. However, the tree should recover in time if you help it out with a little “surgery”.


First, DO NOT use any tree wound dressing to paint over the split. Growers and researchers now agree these products slow and deter natural healing. Through the process of “tracing” you should be able to help the tree repair itself. Using a sharp knife, start at the top of one end of the split and cut (trace) around the side of the wound, about 1/2 to 1 inch back from the edge of the split bark. Stop at the bottom of the split and then do the same cut on the opposite side of the split. (It would be advisable to frequently dip the knife blade in a 10% bleach solution to avoid contamination.)


Now, carefully remove the cut bark from inside the “traced” area. You should now have a larger, bare area without any loose pieces of bark. Believe it or not, that’s all you need to do! The tree will begin the healing process by “callusing” whereby the wound will slowly heal and close itself. In the next few weeks you should see the edges of the split growing new tissue. The wound will very slowly start to close as new growth increases. It may not completely close over but it will come close to fully filling the open wound. In most cases bark splits often close over completely leaving just a slight ridge in the trunk where callus tissue has been produced.

Next month be sure to fertilize the tree very well to encourage growth and repair. By the end of summer you should see a remarkable improvement in the tree. It will have a noticeable scar but should recover fully!

I hope this helps. Send another photo later in the year so I can see how well it has healed. Good luck with everything.

 

[greyphase]

Wow, never saw anything like that. Keep us informed as to whether or not the "surgery" works.

 

[Native Hunter]

Wow, never saw anything like that. Keep us informed as to whether or not the "surgery" works.

I will be sure to let everyone know what happens. The first time I did the cuts, I made them close to the edges, not wanting to open the gap anymore than I had to. But then I thought about the loose bark that I had left. So, I went back and took more off, but on the left side there is still some loose bark. I honestly think you would need to take half the bark off before you got back to where the bark is still tight on the tree.

Anyway, I'm hoping Maya sees this thread soon. He would for sure have some good advice. If I need to get it back to where the bark isn't loose at all - then its back to the operating table...LOL.

PS: This event had me worried so I check most, although not all of my fruit trees today, and found no other damage. Not even to the ones 15 feet away from this one. Go figure.

 

[Native Hunter]

Back to the operating table already. I asked him about what I had done and got the following response. I'm headed back out with the scalpel.

Steve,


The important thing to do when tracing is to remove all the loose bark. Since this loose bark does not have actual physical contact with the cambial layer on the trunk, it cannot form a callus and will begin to dry and maybe even rot, possibly introducing disease into the deteriorating loose bark. I know it can be a difficult “emotional” task to make a large, ugly wound even larger and uglier by tracing but these trees have remarkable recuperative powers and, given time, they will heal themselves in astounding fashion!


What you want to look for is the slow “scabbing” (callusing) of tissue right at the cut edges. Within a couple of weeks you should start to see a slightly raised ridge of new bark growing along both cut edges. Within a couple of years the open wound will gradually close in as new growth expands.


Be careful if you attach string to compress the loose bark. You can easily girdle the trunk if the string chokes-off the flow of water and nutrients to and from the roots. The trunk will grow and expand outward very quickly as the season progresses and can easily engulf the string in just a couple of weeks, leading to eventual girdling of the entire lower trunk.


Good luck again and, of course, keep me posted

 

[sandbur]

Was this tree more exposed to the south or southwest side than the other trees?

The way it has been explained to me for the north country is not quite what you were told. For the north, it is bark/tissue that has been warmed by the winter sun, and when the sun goes behind the trees at sunset, It suddenly becomes cold.

 

[Native Hunter]

Was this tree more exposed to the south or southwest side than the other trees?

The way it has been explained to me for the north country is not quite what you were told. For the north, it is bark/tissue that has been warmed by the winter sun, and when the sun goes behind the trees at sunset, It suddenly becomes cold.

The unharmed trees nearby were equally exposed to the sun on the south and southwest sides. That's one thing puzzling about it. I do have some nearby trees that had bark protection near the ground, but also had several like this one that only had a cage to protect from rubbing.

I dove over to my farm today and checked several trees that were just like this one, and all of them looked just fine.

 

[Native Hunter]

If he's right about having to go past the loose bark, I don't think the tree can be saved. I went back out this afternoon and trimmed half way around and still had loose bark on the left side. I didn't want to trim any more than that. If his theory is correct, the loose part will soon die. If that happens, then I will trim more.

My prediction is that I will be planting another tree in that spot this fall.

 

[sandbur]

We need maya to give us an explanation of the real problem.

What is the rootstock?

some rootstocks make great deer apples.

Or just trim it back and see if you can get growth from above the graft.

 

[Native Hunter]

We need maya to give us an explanation of the real problem.

What is the rootstock?

some rootstocks make great deer apples.

Or just trim it back and see if you can get growth from above the graft.

It's MM106. I don't have many trees on that rootstock. Most of mine are 111.

 

[Native Hunter]

Does the split go all the way to the ground/original graft?

Yes, it stops just above the graft. And, this is a tree that I didn't train to a single trunk. The trunk forks about 4 feet above the ground. The spit in the bark stopped where the trunk forked.

 

[Native Hunter]

I'd guess its more a variety or individual tree(location/soil/something else) issue than a rootstock issue...

I think so too Stu. It's probably nothing to do with the variety, because this is a Liberty, and there are so many of those out there that we would have heard of something like this before.

For sure the freezing and thawing is the culprit, but we may never know why just this particular tree.......