I've been fairly disturbed recently to notice some cracks in the bark of a maple and some redbuds in my garden...
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| Here's the red maple (Acer rubrum) showing cracked bark and some new growth emerging from the trunk below the crack. This tree is probably about 15-20 feet tall, with a bare trunk for 5-6 feet off the ground. When we had a landscaper install it a few years ago, it was already pretty much this height with a very slender, upright growth habit. In other words, the 'canopy' (such as it is) offers little-to-no shade protection for the trunk in a full-sun setting. |
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| This redbud - also in full sun - has a vertical crack extending for several feet along its trunk almost to the soil line. |
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| Yet another full sun redbud (Cercis canadensis) with a crack extending almost the entire length of the trunk. I don't know whether these cracks will kill or hurt the trees - whether they are a symptom of poor health or whether they might cause the trees' demise by providing entry for diseases and insects. Or perhaps the trees will be able to heal themselves and seal the cracks on their own with new bark? I do suspect that sun scald might be part of the problem, so if the trees do survive, I plan on wrapping the trunks with some sort of protective tree paper next winter to protect the bark. |
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| Here's a volunteer redbud looking extremely healthy. It seems to me this little guy has a much bushier growth habit than the redbuds we had installed from a tree nursery. As I understand it (and from what I observe), redbuds often grow naturally in a forest understory or on the edge of a woodland. In those situations, perhaps redbuds would have a lanky, upright growth habit. But it seems to me that in the open, redbuds - like this volunteer - would have a bushier growth habit so that that the leaves could protect the bark of the trunk, at least during the summertime. (This theory sort of falls apart for wintertime protection, since the tree will be bare and the bark probably unprotected regardless of the growth habit of the branches...) |
Have you experienced bark cracks due to sunscald or other causes (such as frost crack) on maples, redbuds or other trees? Were you able to protect your trees from such issues with tree wrap or other methods?
