Maple - bark splitting? (grow, fertilizer, bugs, trees)

[HEATHER72]

Hi all - I have a silver maple that's about 5 years old. Last summer, some of the bark at the base started peeling off. I thought no biggie, but this summer it is peeling even more and now there's a large crack in the bark from the base to the first limb, approximately 6 feet. So I'm thinking I'm going to loose a large section of bark ie hardly have any bark on the tree on the east facing side. ☹ What on earth could be causing this? Can I stop it? I guess the bark won't magically grow back? Can I expect to lose the tree? It's approximately 25 to 30 feet tall and very healthy otherwise. I'm located in northern Virginia. BTW, I'm waiting on hubby to forward me photos he took of the tree. Help!

[HEATHER72]

photos

[SCGranny]

I'm no arborist but that looks like rot to me. There are tree bandages you can buy to cover 'wounds' in trees, but I think I'd find out what was causing it first; too much water, or too much water being held down at the root by the mulch. Also you are very likely to get bugs in there that will cause more damage, even kill the tree. I think I'd scrape away the mulch and examine what was going on below soil level...

In the olden days they used to cut out such damage down to the raw wood and slop cement in the hole, then smooth it level with the rest of the tree. I'm pretty sure that'll make a tree surgeon cry nowadays, though.

[Icy Tea]

I was never a fan of having too much mulch around a tree. You don't know what goes into mulch or what they treat it with. Maybe a neighbors dog is marking its territory on it?

[J&Em]

Originally Posted by SCGranny

I'm no arborist but that looks like rot to me.
<snip>

In the olden days they used to cut out such damage down to the raw wood and slop cement in the hole, then smooth it level with the rest of the tree. I'm pretty sure that'll make a tree surgeon cry nowadays, though.

Granny I think you are right, a lot of what we did way back when would make them cry. LOL

Like SCGranny I'm not an arborist but I do know that trees sometimes do crack. You should get the advice of someone who knows trees well to make sure you don't have multiple issues that need addressing. Mulch can certainly cause some issues at the lower portion of the tree and is the reason most often the advice is to keep mulch a few inches away from the bark and point where the root and stem meet.

Before seeing the pictures my first thought was sunscald or frost crack. It looks much more like frost crack, which Maples are susceptible to, with insect damage, possibly with animal damage from trying to get at the insects.

Frost crack can happen if the tree (especially it's roots) was damaged during planting, or when it has been fertilized too early in the fall (before leaf drop) and experienced rapid growth, or when the weather has caused a rapid growth spurt (plentiful rain following a hot dry period for example). The splits at the first limb and other areas seem to indicate the last possibility or the fertilizer as causes. Prevention of further damage if these are the cause would be to water the tree during prolonged drought/dry spells and to wait to fertilize after the leaves have dropped or in early spring if you must fertilize at all. I won't even try to give you a "cure" as it is beyond my scope of expertise.

[Bulldogdad]

I agree with J&Em and Granny. It looks like you could have several issues.

The bark appears to have been stripped away. Plus it appears like you have some sort of infestation and root.

Get a professional to look at it and get the mulch 6 inches minimum away from the base of the tree.

[HEATHER72]

So far frost cracks seem to be the problem. I contacted an arborist and a master gardener, both said the same thing. Such a shame since it's a nice large tree, but I can't have it fall on my house!