Looks like a street tree. Get run over? that's what it looks like. In any case, you're sure there's not some city program to help out in cases like this?

The tree is actually doing a good job of closing up that wound. That said, this was a large wound and the tree is pretty knocked around. You might want a different one.

Im in Denver and its my tree although in the city right of way. The damage is from frost cracking, we get a lot of drastic temperature swings; thats the side facing the sun. It is healing itself pretty well but not sure how this will do long term.

The damage may be sunscald related, but does not appear to be a frost crack. I would replace it, if you want something you can depend on. If it were way out in the backyard somewhere and just some extra tree, then I might leave it and see what happens.

Agreed-that's not a frost crack. It does remind me exactly of what a young, flexible street tree looks like after the car that has ran it over continues on its way, allowing the skinned-up tree to rebound to more or less vertical. Seen that a few hundred times.

Perhaps snow from a plow bent it over but I see no damage to the grass.....I suppose in the absolute middle of winter on frozen ground it could happen....

My theory if not sunscald or frost is it could have been damaged by getting drug off a truck at the nursery. Either way, the tree has healthy roots I suppose.

Right. I'm not saying I know for a fact....just saying it reminds me of a run-over tree. I looked for tire marks in the turf too, lol.

The tree will respond well, so long as whatever did cause this is out of the picture now..

If it was sun scald or frost crack you would think the damage would continue above the limb. If it was hit by a vehicle the tire marks would be long gone by now judging by the age of the 'healing'.

Mike

get rid of it ...

sure it might live... but do you want to waste 5 years wondering;.... and then it fails anyway ...

in the meantime.. you could have 5 years of growth on a new tree ...

ken

"If it was (sunscald) ... you would think the damage would continue above the limb."

A frequent contributing factor of sunscald is heavy pruning, which can interrupt vascular flow and contribute to the tree's inability to deal with temperature fluctuations. The first time I saw the picture, I was wondering if the limb at the top of the damage had been pruned.

Factor in 5,000 ft altitude, intense winter sun, temp swings and a thin barked tree. That's a lot for a tree to overcome. I'd replace it and use tree wrap in winter for at least three years on the new planting. On at Thanksgiving and off at Easter.

Yes Brandon, that is correct....the mis-pruning of limbs can lead to cracks and other issues. I thought abut that too, although to look at it, it does not jump out at me that this is so here.

I have a weeping cherry I planted 3 years ago whose trunk looked very similar to yours. Weeping cherries are thin-barked. The damage that was done on mine happened the first year I had it. I am convinced that it was because of temperature fluctuations, combined with not having been staked when young. We had those two super cold winters (2013-14 "polar vortex", & 2014-15 lot of heavy duty wind). I think the thing cracked because it got blown around too much, combined with the temperature fluctuations.

I posted my situation on a site (can't remember if it was this one or not), and everybody told me it was dead tree standing.

But I didn't replace it for whatever reason, and the tree has pretty much healed itself. This past winter though I wrapped the trunk and staked it, and I'm glad I did because we had some heavy wind. I'm hoping the trunk will be thick enough by next fall where I won't have to stake it, but I may still wrap it for another few seasons.

My tree also had no damage to the limbs, it was only on the trunk.

Nobody on the site I posted on mentioned wind damage, but someone I know here locally whose opinion I respect suggested the wind issue. He is the person who told me to wrap it and stake it this winter.

denver a whole lot different than alexa's zone 7 ... and i doubt staking was a variable ... ken

Yes, I would imagine Denver would have even more extreme temperature fluctuations than here in 7A. Plus they have that clear air and intense sun, perhaps from the elevation. Here in 7A outside of DC the air is rarely clear, we get the city's pollution lol.

As far as wind being a factor, I think it would depend on whether the poster's tree is out in the open and exposed to a lot of wind or not. Mine is. I normally don't stake my trees, but I think it would have helped this one to do it early on, due to its exposure to high winds. Being a weeping cherry, it has a lot of thin branches that I'm sure create a kite effect.

I could find no other explanation for why my tree cracked. I know my tree didn't get hit by vehicles, because it's nowhere near the street. Nor by a lawn mower because I mow the lawn myself and I know I didn't run into it. Also, my damage started with some bark splitting and gradually got worse from there. It wasn't sustained suddenly. That's why I concluded it was wind, which can easily damage a young tree whose canopy might be a good size but whose trunk is still not thick enough.

This would mark the first time-in my however many decades in the biz-of hearing that wind causes cracks in bark! That's a good one to read on this Friday morning. I needed a laugh.

Being buffeted by wind is something that trees have had to be adapted to since even before I was born! Think how long ago that was! No, I'm in one of my moods here, but the point is, wind strengthens tree trunks, by causing the production of reaction wood and greater trunk taper. Staking trees lessens the young tree's ability to make these adjustments and leads to a weak, spindly plant. Sometimes...staking is necessary-we've covered that right around a hundred times here before....but those cases are specific and have nothing to do with what "trees need". They have to do with human factors of vandalism, or wildlife issues, or in some rare cases, of plants being installed at too large of a size, in windy locations. To say that trees-any trees-in any more or less "natural" situation "need to be staked" is to not understand basic tree physiology.

Even more than landscape trees and stuff in yards, I'm into forests. Good gawd, have any of you ever seen young stands following a logging operation, forest fire, windstorm, or what have you? Tree saplings coming up thicker than the hair on a dog....stock-straight, shooting for the sun...this is a scene of intense vigor, not one of wimpy little plants falling over, needing the arrival of a monkey with a stake to help them stand straight.

Sun scald, it will eventually heal

Yes, more of a sunscald type of thing. Wind can, if sufficiently strong, obviously do damage to trees. But honestly, I've never seen wind do this. Crack a plant right off at the trunk? Sure. Bust up some limbs? Sure. But again, never in my experience have I seen it do this. In any case, just provide water if things get very dry...and don't if they don't, lol...and let the tree sort things out. It probably will, if just given time.