Reminds me of the time I was called to a new-ish hospital campus in Hilton Head to inspect the trees that had been planted after the construction process was completed. The trees had been in the ground for less than three months and were ALL beginning to fail. As I recall, there were over thirty of them, maybe more. When I made that site visit, I expected to find that the trees had been planted too deeply, which was usually the reason for this problem. Sad to say that each one had been girdled by weedeaters. You can send us pictures of the damage if you want, but if the bark is gone so is the phloem. The trees will die. Don't let 'the yard guy' convince you that he can fix the problem with wraps or goop; it can't be done. I hope you don't think that this can be ignored because he's your neighbor. He was hired to perform a service and is clearly not qualified to do so. I'd not hesitate to let him go, unless you've been EXTREMELY satisfied with his past performance. What if his judgement should lapse again or his lack of experience results in misuse of pesticides, fertilizers, improper pruning, etc.? He shouldn't be surprised nor offended by you letting him go, and ought to be happy to replace your trees.

I mistakenly did this to a large redbud tree when a kid about 10. Did not strip everything, but more than enough to kill the tree over time. I'm sorry the tree is good as dead, it just hasn't died just yet. Depending upon how high the striping is, you MAYBE can cut the tree off at that level, and MAYBE get a new shoot to form to assume the old canopies place. IF it does sprout it would regenerate much more quickly than a new tree, as the root system will be pushing canopy growth ASAP to replace what was lost. With that said, if regeneration is not fast enough, it still might die. Personally I would try cutting at the strip line (assuming it is a couple feet up), paint the open wood with copper to stop rot, hope for the bes, and then plant a replacement nearby. I would also do the cut NOW, so the tree does not completely expend itself trying to support a canopy that is not able to give anything back. JMHO Arktrees

Scott, can you post a picture of the whole tree? You appear to have a big rotting wound on a tree prone to them. Usually these grow as fast as they rot if not faster so they outpace it. Yours is not for some reason. I am starting to think Weeping willows are picky sometimes. My neighbor has a beautiful one from a cutting he took in Arkansas growing on the hill behind our houses. Its a decade old and probably 60 foot in spread. Down the hill where it is wet in his front yard he had a cutting take the same year. A few years later the bottom started rotting and it died. So he took another cutting, same thing. And again. My best guess is they don't like being downhill of the septic? Who knows.

trees heal themselves.. ANYTHING you dream up.. is contrary to mother nature.. let her take care of it ... anything!!! and that is presuming it isnt a 360 degree wound ... a picture might change the prescription ... ken PS: free help is usually not actually free ... lol ... kill everything for a foot or two around your tree.. and add some mulch to keep the weedwacker freak away ...