I think some kind of animal got to it or kids have been peeling the bark, I love this tree is there any way I can heal it or save it? 🥺
The wound is pretty tall for a bridge graft but I can try doing one (idk if those would work on this kind of tree?) I don't know if those paint on pruning sealants are harmful but that was going to be my first option.
There are earwigs in the peeling area of the wound 😟
How's the tree doing otherwise? If it's been well, I wouldn't do anything. I've had similar wounds on oaks, river birches, willow trees. They just "scab" over, unless whatever happened keeps happening. Mine were storm damage mostly. I'd never use a sealant personally. I had a river birch that split in half around its base when I was young. The wound ended up rotting pretty badly and was home to lots of weird insects, ended up taking steps to dry and taped a trash bag over it in the rain. Now there's just a few inch impression but it scabbed over just fine.
The tree still looks healthy, it was struck by lightning a while ago and recovered from the huge vertical crack in the bark.
I think this was caused by a woodpecker or squirrel and got concerned because the damage is more horizontal. Google made it sound like that earwigs were a sign that it was a goner, but hearing that your river birch survived all that makes me feel less worried now.
❤️🌳
Vertical gashes are very survivable, it's when the wound circles around the bark that you need to worry. My rabbits chewed up one side of a ficus and it's been doing fine for years even though none of the bark has grown back.
If you have the means, you could call an arborist to take a look at it
I'm not super knowledgeable about tree lore but a sealant is probably your best bet. The fact that it's fairly localized instead of a 360 makes me think it will be ok.
Thank you, that makes me more hopeful for it 🥺🌳
Invasive species have wrecked the other tree species here, the rest of the tree still looks fairly healthy and I'm hoping the earwigs are just incidental and not a sign that its dying
I have been through many hours arborist training post-2010 and heard repeated by multiple certified arborists that sealants are no longer recommended as they can interfere with the tree's ability to shut down transport/compartmentalize wounds.
but you may want to post this question 
