Anyone know what caused the bare spot on the trunk of this tree? Its a Granny Smith on M111 planted last year. One bare spot appeared last year and the other this year. The tree bark just crumbles on the tree. Damage was not caused by rabbits or a weed eater
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Fire blight?
I don’t think it’s deer rub- not long and strung out like bucks do, plus you can see that it’s spreading below the knot, and he says the bark “crumbles”. I’d be worried.
Its not a deer rub, the bark was on the plant. The bark just crumbled where you see the bare spots. Plus I put chicken wire around all of my trees to keep deer away. I actually dug this tree up to transplant it which is why you don’t see the wire.
There is no black areas on the tree. Isn’t Fire blight usually black?
How close was the wire to the tree? Was it close enough to rub an off and area that size?
Are you sure no rabbits? I’ve seen rabbits,mice, voles eating in small areas that look like that.
Even water getting behind a cut with expansion and contraction can pop out a smaller area. However, the top one looks more like a deliberate pattern, like a small critter eating it.
No other trees have that type of damage to the trunk at your place?
I planted the tree in a 4ft x 4ft raised container. 4 posts outside the box at each corner with the chicken wire run around the box so it couldn’t be the chicken wire. I will check my other trees tomorrow but so far no other damage. We do have rabbits but there is plenty for them to eat and never had a problem previously.
I have some rabbits here as well. They never bothered my plants until last year, for some reason. Different Winters create different food situations and they are different rabbits over the years.
Looks similar to what has killed a couple of my trees, which has been discussed here, but nobody could agree on the cause. It looks like there are a couple of places where a pruning cut didn’t heal over properly and the cut stub at those places appears black. If that is accurate, I’m betting that was the entry point for some disease, possibly fireblight.
Some of the older wounds show callusing which is a good sign. Could this be south-west damage?
