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

I've seen the bark splits much more frequently that the tree 'exploding' - though I have seen that as well. Have a picture, somewhere, of a water oak back on the farm that I saw take a direct strike - bark split from far up in the canopy, down to the ground, that survived, and healed up the split in the bark. Lived for 10-12 more years until it was felled as housing developments went up. As a veterinarian, I've also seen numerous dead cows piled up all around a tree that took a direct lighting strike, dropped in their tracks, with dirt blown up from around the surface roots. Have also seen cows that took a direct hit with no tree involved, and they'll also have linear singe marks in their haircoat, where you can trace the path of the lightning strike as it coursed through/over their body.

This is more common than you might think :-) J. maples have very thin bark and squirrels can use it for food in winter but more often strip it off in spring for nesting material. Generally it causes no more than cosmetic damage and can eventually grow back. However, if the bark is removed uniformly from all around the trunk - the complete circumference - it could compromise the tree's ability to transport nutrients and that could become a very serious problem. Removal of the bark from around the branches is somewhat less serious, although it could seriously damage that specific branch, but not the entire tree. Wrapping the trunk or branches loosely with chicken wire or a designated tree wrap can help - it certainly impedes the squirrels' ability to get to and remove bark. But unless you can provide photos, it's hard to say how much damage has been done and if the tree will survive it.