Sandman83
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Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2018 1:08 am

Remediation for bark damage on young trees

I have a cat that has found a new love of scratching the bark off many of my young trees. Just about all of the damage happened over the last month or so, meaning the trees were already dormant. I'm hoping this means I'll have a bit of time to figure out how to help the trees recover before they die in the spring, if there even is a chance at all. I'm grateful to any of the experienced people here for any suggestions. I've already caged off all of the trunks to prevent further damage. I'm sure at least two are gone, there's no vertical connection for any of the green phloem layer around a band of the trunk, as all of the bark was scratched pretty deep. I'll focus on trying to help the ones with significant damage, but might survive. The lighter damaged ones I'll just leave to heal on their own. I've heard of bark grafting, I don't know if that's something I can have success with in sub-zero weather. The wood may already be too calloused over by now anyway. Is there anything I can give the roots to survive without much food from the leaves until the tree heals enough on its own? I've heard opinions for and against sealing the wound, what are your thoughts on that? I'm looking at a lot of trees to try to save, so I'm willing to try just about anything. I should have paid more attention before the cat went nuts like that. Thanks to anyone who can help.

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!potatoes!
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Posts: 1938
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:13 pm
Location: wnc - zones 6/7 line

what kind of trees? I've had good luck bridge-grafting over weedeater damage on young apple trees, but, like you suspect, that's going to be best done in spring when the plant is active again...



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