Thanks everyone. We haven't fertilized the trees yet. We're new to gardening and fruit trees and wanted to be organic. I just read something about organic gardeners and how they believe they shouldn't fertilize, but in fact we should. Kind of a "doh" moment. Sometimes you feel it's just something else you have to figure out. Any suggestions? Can you use all purpose ferts i use in the garden, 4-5-6 fox farm? Since I have it know it's probably better to use than waiting. Milehigh- thanks for the info on the tree wrap. Sounds a lot better than painting. Warranty? I didn't know trees came with warranties! I've emailed the nursery and included photos but haven't heard back from them.

"Your (are) both saying take down this nice Maple due to this 1 area of damage?" Better than having it come crashing down on your home some day. This tree is large, but not huge. Why waste another ten years on a tree with serious damage, when you could use that time to grow a replacement? In ten years from now you could have an empty spot in your yard after a bunch of clean up work or a new tree with ten years worth of growth. Of course one consideration might be whether you will still be there in ten years. "Not sure where to look or how to know if the bark is soft" It's not the bark you need to look at; it's the wood. If the bare wood is soft or spongy, it's rotten. The coloration in your picture makes me think this is very possible. "...so, it could start to heal" Trees don't heal. They cover their wounds. If rot is present before the wounded area is covered (and it looks like that's likely from what I see), the rot will always be there and will, to some degree and at some speed, spread. And, as Spruce said, if the wound extends below ground level, rot will weaken and eventually destroy the tree. "This is a death sent(e)nce for this tree?" Yes. Of course something else could come along and take your tree out first, but eventually this wound will lead to the death of the tree if something else doesn't happen to it first. The amount of time that it takes for this wound to lead to failure depends on many factors. It could be just a few years or it could be quite a few, but the process has started. If the tree doesn't endanger your home or safety, it's not necessarily a bad decision to leave it, but I would at least consider other options.

with that weed free.. well fertilized lawn.. there is NO NEED FOR FERT ... EVER.... if the tree has already spread roots under that lawn.. it will get what it needs.. and more .... i would NOT hold out a lot of hope for this tree... but i would be pleasantly surprised if it recovered ... there is something about the dry interior wood that really bothers me.. like that giant borer hole ... even if it healed over in the years to come.. i wouldnt be surprised.. if at some point down the years.. it didnt fail right at that spot... in a wind storm ... in case i wasnt clear... i would enjoy watching the recovery process.. but i would NOT be surprised if it didnt fail.. eventually ... have you tried discussing such with the seller/installer ... this damage could easily have been pre-exisiting at delivery ... but near impossible to prove ... whatever remedy might be available.. might be based on the sellers dignity ... one option.. if he is waffling.. is to ask if he would replace it with a tree half the size ... much cheaper for him ... and it will outgrow this one in a few years... huge.. large transplants... peeps are thinking instant gratification... when in reality ... a smaller tree takes the stress easier... plants easier.. and gets growing to specs.. so much faster.. that it really isnt worth the large cost... within 5 years ... ken in adrian mi ... ps: no planting in july/august .... in MI ... IMHO ....

Ditto what Toronado (and Ken) said. If it were me, I'm pretty sure I'd remove the branch. There's a small chance I'd change my mind if I saw it in person, but looking at the pictures leads me to believe that pruning would be my choice. BTW, the third options (and maybe the best one), is to leave it for now, see what happens, and make the final decision in a year from now...or two years from now. You could even do some minor pruning in the mean time to lesson the percentage of the canopy that that limb was responsible for. Doing that, in a happy coincidence, would likely increase the trees ability to close off the pruning wound more quickly, later on (kind of a subordinate pruning type of thing).