My weeping Red Maple tree is missing something. As the snow begins to melt out by my little pond by the greenhouse, it became apparent that someone has been nibbling on the bark of this tree. If a deer had chomped on my holly or other plant I wouldn't worry but this is allot of bark. The protective skin for that plant. Will my little tree be ok? Is there anything i can do to protect it? I am not sure who did this. I would like to know so I can get him.... The favorite hubby thinks it's a mouse or something little like that. Can anyone help? This plant is over 20 years old. I was in a small pot to keep it small. I am worried that loosing the bark is more detrimental to an older plant like this one.
EWWWWW, Barb! That is bad. It looks like rabbit damage and unfortunately they destroyed that poor little tree any where the bark is gone. The trunk looks like it didn't get eaten all the way to the ground so I think it will re grow, but if it was damaged below the graft (which it is grafted for it to be a weeping tree) then what comes back will be a regular Japanese Maple. Trim it as close to the damaged area as you can and just wait to see what happens.
This all must have been done underground and not above ground. We pass by this area every time we go out to the chickens. We have watched the poor little tree being covered totally until yesterday. So whatever did this was under the snow. My neighbor thinks it was a grey squirrel. Never thought I'd be using these smiley thingies.
Could have been voles, too. but I still think rabbits did it in the dark...They usually come in the early morning or late evening. Blasted things. I give my rabbits the prunings from my fruit trees and they only eat the bark. They leave a mess of striped twigs in the cages.
It appears they only are eating the bark and not the wood at all. We have had mice and voles in the greenhouse and it only about 6 feet from the little tree.
That is the nutritious part of the tree. The "core" has nothing in it (that is nothing but fiber). The bark is the only part they will want.
Does anyone know if there is anything I can do to prevent it's death? Maybe a tree wrap or solution applied where the bark was?
Sorry, Barb. There is nothing to be done for are area the bark was destroyed. At this point watch and wait for new growth and prune off anything that is dead...which might be the entire top two/three weeping branches..... If you have ever done a bud graft you may give that a try. I am not sure how it would work from the size of the trunk. You will need to harvest some viable buds before the weeping branches dry out and die though. Store them in a plastic bag with some damp sphagnum moss or wrapped in damp news paper in the fridge. Then when the temperatures moderate do the grafting. I have never done any myself, but I just bought a grafting knife and buddy tape to do an apple kevin accidentally broke and killed last year, since the rootstock is still in the ground.
Since I have so much to do this Spring, I will probably replace it as soon as I see signs off it dying. I really do feel badly when one of my plants die. It's not a usual event around here.
Barb, I would lop off the top right at the edge where the bark is eaten as soon as the new growth starts and see what happens. If it is still in its pot move it to a new area and let it grow. If it is the root stock growing you may not what it too close to the greenhouse. It will take a long time, but it will get pretty big for a small tree if all that comes back is the rootstock. My regular Japanese Maple is now taller than the gutters on the roof.
This trunk is only 1 foot tall. I honestly can't remember if it is in the pot yet. I would like to think that's how we planted it because it's so close to our little pond. That way we would have more control of the roots in the future. We always have done pruning on this plant so it would grow exactly the way we wanted. It was going to be our focal spot at the pond. I think I willwait and see. If it just becomes a regular tree then we will move it to a more suitable place in the 'up yard', out back. I'll keep you posted.
Waretop - we have mice/voles that sneak around under the snow and do this. They seem to pick on one tree the entire winter, while leaving the neighboring ones alone. I lost an apple tree years ago and now I put plastic collars around the base of my smaller trees.
waretrop=Barb is very very sad to hear all these bad reports. It's really a big deal to us. We kept this tree in the greenhouse for 12 years and Wintered it outside of the greenhouse every year.
