Emperor trunk bark problem

[ags79]

I just I just recieved a 2-gallon Emperor Japanese maple and the trunk has some spots where the bark has died back above the graph. The top looks healthy with clean bark but im concerned about the health of this. What is this from and is there anyway I can stop/heal this?

 

[cbroad]

The vertical scar could be damage from cicadas, but could definitely be some other mechanical damage to the trunk.

 

[cbroad]

Could also be old sunscald damage that has previously healed.

Notice it is only on the grafted scion, so the emperor's bark could be more susceptible to it than the rootstock which is straight species.

 

[ags79]

is it possible to lighty sand this out with a dremel for it to heal over?

 

[cbroad]

It is healing over. There will always be a crease where the two cambium edges meet, until the two meld into one and the older cambium/bark is sloughed off and the newest bark underneath shows no crease. You may always be able to tell slightly that there was damage there at one time but it would be a lot less noticable.

 

[cbroad]

But about using a Dremel; I've also always wondered if you can sand off thin layers on the surface to take off some amount of cambium to reduce the swelling which a lot of trees do around callus tissue.

 

[ags79]

Gotcha I understand now. Thanks for the help. I am a newby so still learning how plants grow and heal.

 

[0soyoung]

But about using a Dremel; I've also always wondered if you can sand off thin layers on the surface to take off some amount of cambium to reduce the swelling which a lot of trees do around callus tissue.

The line is because of a bark inclusion - the two approaching lips had a thin bark covering when they finally came into contact. One might carefully carve this out and immediately cover with polyethylene, say, so the cambium doesn't desiccate (die back). The line may disappear much more rapidly that waiting for the natural merger of the two cambium lips that may take a very long time.

The 'using a Dremel' idea makes me pucker because it just makes me think of too coarse a resultant cut and doing more harm that good. One just needs to remove enough bark on the two sides of the lips so that the cambium on both sides can produce a common/continuous callus, somewhat like in grafting. Simpler things like just poking the line with a knife tip, an ice pick, or similar might be more effective, I'm not sure. Lightly hand sanding the line until a hint of green is seen and then covering might work as well.

 

[ags79]

ok thank you =)

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce