Planting a new tree is filled with hope and promise. Shade for hot summer afternoons! Vibrant blooms to welcome spring! Fantastic fall foliage for your front yard!
Then you notice your leafy new pal has damaged bark. Bye, hope and promise. You’re suddenly worried.
Will damaged tree bark grow back?
Damaged tree bark is a pretty common problem. Lawn equipment bumps it, critters munch it, insects infest it, and even the sun can scald it. The good news is that trees can often recover, healing their own wounds.
How can a young tree with damaged bark be saved? It depends on how severe the damage is. It might heal on its own, with help from insecticide treatments and a fertilizer boost.
However, if the tree is young and the damage is severe, replacing it might be the better option.
Keep reading for more about young tree bark damage, including:
- Can a Tree with Damaged Bark Be Saved?
- Should You Wrap a Tree with Damaged Bark?
- When to Replace A Tree with Damaged Bark
- Protecting Trees from Bark Damage
- How Plant Health Care Can Help
Can a Tree with Damaged Bark Be Saved?
If the bark damage isn’t severe, let the tree heal on its own.
A young tree with minor bark damage can typically seal off its wound and continue to heal.
But there are steps you can take to help it along:
Insecticide Treatments
Damaged tree bark is a big invitation to insects who love moving in and munching the exposed tissue. Insecticide treatments can keep bugs at bay.
Deep Root Fertilizer
Lawn Buddies technicians can apply deep root fertilizer in the fall to help the tree maintain good health.
Deep root tree fertilization helps repair tree bark damage by injecting nutrients for your tree directly into the soil, rather than spreading it over the top.
By injecting the fertilizer with high pressure, the nutrients can quickly reach the deepest tree roots, feeding your tree from the roots up.
The fertilizer is delivered straight to the tree’s roots, with a long, cool-looking wand, so your tree gets an immediate nutrition boost.
Then, over time, important nutrients like phosphorus and iron reach the rest of your tree, making it healthier and more vibrant.
Deep root fertilizing strengthens your damaged tree, helping to repair young tree bark damage and enabling it to better fend off pests and diseases.
Should You Wrap a Tree with Damaged Bark?
We don’t recommend using any type of tree paint or wrapping on damaged bark.
Wrapping a tree traps moisture underneath, which encourages fungus and decay. If there’s the beginning of any disease in the damaged bark, wrapping will keep it festering.
Let air get to the damaged bark, and a tree’s own natural defenses can encourage new growth and work toward repairing tree bark damage.
When to Replace A Tree with Damaged Bark
Do young trees with damaged bark need to be replaced?
If the damage is severe and the tree is young, you’re better off replacing the tree.
If you leave it alone, it might be several years before you discover that the tree bark damage blocked water and nutrients from reaching all areas of the tree. This blockage can result in a thin tree canopy or dead branches throughout the tree, but it can be years before this damage occurs.
Now you’ve wasted years that could have been spent growing a healthy new tree.
Also, large wounds in tree bark allow insects and diseases to easily enter the tree, causing even more tree bark damage.
So, replacing a young tree is often the best option.
Protecting Trees from Bark Damage
How do you protect your trees from bark damage?
Add a Mulch Ring
Mowers and string trimmers can easily damage tree bark if they get too close.
These tools typically damage the tree's base, causing “girdling,” which prevents nutrients from flowing throughout the tree, starving it and causing it to die.
Add a protective mulch ring around your tree, or remove any grass or weeds around the base so you don’t need to get too close with your mower or string trimmer.
If you use a mulch ring, make sure it's big enough so the tree has room for the trunk to grow, and that hitting it with the mower isn't an issue.
Keep the Critters Away
Hungry mice and rabbits love tender young bark, especially during Idaho winters when food is scarce.
Tree guards, made of plastic or wire, protect the trunks of vulnerable young trees. They can be found at a garden center or hardware store.
How Plant Health Care Can Help
Tree care pros can evaluate your bark-damaged tree and advise you on the best care, from insecticide treatments to deep root fertilization to replacement if necessary.
However, tree bark damage is just one issue facing Idaho trees. Occasional tree maintenance can prevent diseases, battle bugs, and feed your hard-working trees so they’re strong and healthy enough to stand up to whatever Idaho dishes out.
Lawn Buddies plant pros know exactly what your precious trees need and when they need it.
Plus, there’s a huge bonus to hiring professional tree and shrub care: experts have pro-level products that treat your trees and shrubs with fast and powerful ingredients that get straight to the problem, from failing health to icky insect infestations.
We’re talking tools and ingredients you don’t have access to as a DIY gardener.
After treating your tree bark damage, we’ll monitor it closely to ensure it’s healing properly.
Trust Your Tree Care to Lawn Buddies
Get your new leafy pals off to a great start with plant health care services in Boise and Idaho Falls with experts who know exactly what they need.
Leave it all to us.
Expert tree and shrub maintenance is available for our Idaho Falls and Boise customers who use our full-service lawn care program. First, sign up for our 6-step complete lawn care program. You’ll be glad you did.
Choose a professional lawn care service in Idaho Falls or Boise that simplifies the process by bundling your yard’s most-needed treatments into one convenient, no-fuss plan.
Fertilizing, weed control, grub control. Done. Expert tree and shrub maintenance: Double done. We’ve got your back.
Got a few minutes? That’s all you need to get started. Fill out the form on this page, call us at (208) 656-9131 or read more about our services. Then, you can kick back and relax in your healthy, thriving yard.
