Cherry tree has ring on it's trunk

[Pauls]

I see a ring around my cherry tree trunk. What it is and how it happened?

[Fusion_power]

Looks like a piece of tape was on it. When removed, it ripped off the top bark layer.

[sockworth]

Looks like a kid found a weird flap in the tree and pulled it out along the circumference. Like a loose thread unraveling a sweater in a cartoon.

[Pauls]

Is it going to damage the tree? Is there something I could do to fix it?

[sockworth]

I’m not sure if there’s much to do. How far does the damage go around the trunk?

I don’t think it would kill the tree, but due to the damage, the exposed cambium is vulnerable pathogens. Just like if your skin is scraped.

I’m fairly sure you will get two types of advice from the forum: (1) do nothing, leave it alone, but make sure it doesn’t happen again. (2) paint over it with diluted white latex paint.

[fruitnut]

It’s just the outer layer of bark. What’s exposed is another layer of bark. You could peel it all off and it wouldn’t hurt the tree. Either 1 or 2 above will work.

[swincher]

@sockworth

Looks like a kid found a weird flap in the tree and pulled it out along the circumference.

And left the evidence:

And welcome to the forum, @Pauls!

[cis4elk]

I was going to post the same thing!