There's good callous at both wounds. It's healed itself well from whatever the form of damage that occurred. Bark shedding is OK. It's the calloused/healed under that's telling the story.

I'm going to assume your sprinkler system caused the wet spots and fully wet branch/trunk.

I'll start this thread with my thoughts and we'll see what others think.

Dax

Thanks for quick response. Last year I had earwigs under the bark. At least 30 of them. I haven't seen them this year but the second spot is peeling away. I live on long island. New york.

There were no limbs cut off at the 2 spots. The larger spot is splitting slowly. But the lower smaller spot is splitting at a quicker rate. Tree is south facing and gets full sun all day. Is not over watered.

And the splitting on lower one is also alot more wide spread. Main concern is if it's weakening the trunk and if strong storm will snap it. My electric lines go through branches

you need an onsite inspection by a certified arborist ... not just any dude with a chainsaw ...

if the power company were to come thru.. and tell me they were going to prune it.. i would tell them to take it down ....

ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=isa+cetified+arborist&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

The splitting is because of the new wood that is forming underneath the dead bark. Notice the "rolls" at the edge of the wound? That's what the tree is forming to over the old wound.

Can you post a picture of the whole tree and of a branch with a couple leaves.

That big silver maple near my driveway had a shorter leash than this laceleaf Japanese maple which MAY get to 10 foot tall someday

I will post a full tree picture later today. Maybe someone can tell me exactly what kind of maple it is to. Thanks to all

And Jean I don't k ow why there was a wound there to begin with though. There weren't any limbs cut from those spots. Not hit by lightning.

There most certainly was a limb removed-whether by you, the wind, or what have you. Plainly visible in first pic. You're not going to win this argument!

All the loose bark, splitting, etc. going on is a result of this initial wound. I've seen right around 9642 cases just like this, although my math may be off a bit. I don't know why you-OP-would be going into denial about what happened here. I didn't say you did a terrible pruning cut, just that someone or something did. Sheesh.

These things USUALLY don't just pop up. On here it seems alot of big new transplants have them. My theory is they get wounded during transport. A recent post has me thinking about flex damage in the wind. Perhaps being moved to an open yard where they suddenly have to flex after growing for years in a tight pack of new trees is too much for the trunks.

An Acer rubrum of mine developed a canker on a pruning cut if I recall the diagnosis on here. I had to cut out the area which looked to be rotting.

It does appear to me also that a fair amount of encapsulation has occurred.

The tree is abput 20 years old give or take. And I know for sure the bottom split there was never a limb there and the top one I'm sure there wasn't either. I've watched as both of these have started sitting and healing. I'm not arguing with you wisconsin. Just trying to figure out what's going on.

You can see in pictures the bottom splitting is about 3 to 4 feet in length. On main trunk never had limbs there. In the full picture the second branch up is where the other more healed sit is. Again never had a limb there. You can see where I trimmed a limb recently. Also can any tell what kind of maple tree this is by the pictures. Thanks again to all

......

have a number of Japanese maples which are about the height of your problem. Just to make everyone happy, they all had branches at that level at some point in their past.

......

That's a nice tree you have. I'm not sure what is causing or caused the problem and regardless, where to go from here.

Regardless, my neighbor has a Kanzan cherry which has had a dozen places on its trunk which are split with no sign of encapsulation for the last decade. It might be getting old in tree terms but is still there.

So don't get out the chainsaw yet.

There is also a girdling root plainly visible in second-to-last photo, fight near upward-facing light. That's why the trunk is flat on that side.

I would not spend one penny on trying to heroically save this cull. It's definitely on the way out. It just might take a few years for the process to complete itself.

Wisconsin. What is a girdling root. And what causes it. Thanks

Wisconsin that's actually a metal ring the previous home put around the tree. Might even be tire rim lol

The tree will probably be fine, and as Ken would say...will die in 15-50 years

15 to 50