I forgot to mention in the post that the cut or crack is about 2 inches long and fairly deep. I noticed that there is a fair share of ants going up and down the trunk as well, not sure if they are attracted to the ooz coming out. The reason the local nursery said dont seal it was that you could seal something in side the tree and that trees will heal themselves, mine just hasnt.

If it were my tree, this is what I would do:

Take a knife or putty knife or similar and scrape out as much decayed tissue as possible, down to healthy looking wood. Anything soft and gummy needs to go. Then, I would spray down the entire area with a weak bleach solution, 1 part bleach to 10 parts water. Then, I would dust with a good fungicide like Captan. Then, I would use some type of sealant in there. I've used various things over the years, cement, Great Stuff spray in foam, the tree sealant sold at nurseries, which is asphalt based, I believe. They all seem to do the job.

Dennis
SE Michigan

That sounds like a good plan and I assume you have done this before. Thanks for the info Dennis.

It was suggested "Take a knife or putty knife or similar and scrape out as much decayed tissue as possible, down to healthy looking wood."

That's out-dated info.

By scraping out the bad stuff, you'll injure the sound wood and, thus, enable the rot organisms to enter more of the tree.

The current advice is to leave wounds be. No scraping. No sealant. No dust. No cement or other fillers.

That said, your t

Well that is what the nursery said to do let it alone. But that was over a year ago and the wound is still there, I am afraid of the wound going into a another cold winter that it might crack more.

How long does it usually take for a wound to heal? I did check it again today and it feel dry inside the wound.

Thanks again for the help

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm guessing your peach got damaged from the combination of cold sunny days. The sap starts flowing up the trunk when the sun shine on the trunk then freezes when the sun disappears, causing the trunk to crack. If the crack is on the south side of the tree, we've found the cause of the problem.

I agree with others who recommend leaving it alone. As long as the tree puts on wood faster than it rots, trunks can be hollow and still structurally sound. But preventing more cracks should be a priority. Paint the trunk white and it will help reflect the sun's rays. It looks a little trashy, but it helps.

Thanks groundskeeper,

I am pretty sure it was the cold too. The crack is actually on the north side of the tree. The sap has stopped coming out of it and it has made it through last winter with the crack. Like I do every winter I have put a tree guard around the trunk and just hope that it makes through another winter. Thanks for the help

If the place is on the N side, probably could be a fruit tree boar. S side cracks, sun/temp chg, cracks, N side boars. Spray tree trunk with antibacterial dish soap and water, 3oz soap to 1 qt water, 1oz bleach, or neam oil, allow to dry, then spray or apply black tree tar on wound.