Bark knocked off tree, Anything to be done?

[southsoundtree]

Is there anything to be done if bark is knocked off of a tree? Suppose that another tree hits it or a vehicle hits the tree.

Is it just a matter of waiting to see what stays attached to the tree, then carefully cutting off loose bark and allow the callousing over of the gap?

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Reattach the bark flakes ASAP. Tape or small nails work. Sometimes the broken bark grows back in place. If not, you can always remove the bark later.

Wrap the wound with clear saran wrap. This has been shown to be beneficial.

 

[treegazer]

We have removed the loose and damaged bark back to live, healthy, and attached bark. Usually when we get the call the bark that is damaged has already dried out.
We use a sharp chisel, razor blade or a sharp pruner blade to do the tracing.
Afterward we dress the exposed trunk wood with LacBalsam.
Here's a shot of one I did a few years ago.


Beyond that you should assess and monitor the health of tree. Stress should be minimized to maintain overall health and vigor. Fertilization may be called for as well as preventative insecticides to keep borers and other pests from taking advantage of the newly stressed tree.

 

[treegazer]

Here's the tree after bark tracing and dressing.

 

[Tr33Climb3r]

Try taking a piece of black plastic (not to thin like a garbage bag) and staple it around the edge of the wound. It may help to lightly spray the trunk with a spray bottle full of water (to keep the moisture in) before you staple the plastic on. Now you have to do this right after the damage occurs up to like a couple days from what I remember from the presentation.

Now this technique was shown in a presentation at the ISA Conference in Chicago
This information was included in this talk:
The CODIT Principle—New Results About Wound Reactions of Trees
Dirk Dujesiefken, Ph.D.

 

[tomthetreeman]

[ QUOTE ]
Here's the tree after bark tracing and dressing.

[/ QUOTE ]

How's it looking now? That's quite a wound.

-Tom

 

[classictruckman]

Yes looks like the took a couple of swings at it with whatever they used to damage it.

 

[tomthetreeman]

Looks like one of these with the mower deck up (and running):

 

[robinia]

This is a Carya cordiformis that got hit by a big mower. The deck grabed the bark at the base and pulled a 6" wide strip 4' straight up the trunk. The flap was just hanging on at the top.
I duct taped down the flap about 1 hour after the accident. This photo was taken before the clear plastic was added.
Sorry, didn't get a before photo...

June 2004

 

[robinia]

This is after the tape came off. Bark is reattached

January 2005

 

[robinia]

This one is from today.

 

[tomthetreeman]

Awesome! All that with legos!

 

[Treespotter]

Nail the still attached bark back onto the wood and put some layers of black shrinkwrap foil (used in the packaging industry for shipping) around the tree.
Remove the foil after about 6 to 9 months.
Don't get your hopes up too high, but in some cases the tree covered the bark free wood with new tissue formed from out of the rays and the reattached bark is back on and functioning as it should.

 

[boreality]

Do conifers respond well to this treatment?

 

[Treespotter]

I really wouldn't know. No conifers in Holland (at least not in a spot that they can become a victim of a 'roadkill').

There has been been research about this item, I just can't reproduce it here.

My gut feeling says no, because of the produced resin.

 

[treegazer]

Here's a link to a picture of the tree about 1 1/2 years after the treatment. It is in an older thread on Lac Balsam.

http://www.treebuzz.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=148847&page=0&fpart=2&vc=1