I tied down a sweet cherry branch last year to tried to shape it to be more horizontal. I used regular twine and forgot to take it down and the diameter grew a nice amount and there’s a visible waist. Lesson learned to make it looser or take it down in future. Is the rest of the branch a goner ?
Did the very same on my pear. After removing the string the branch bridged the cut and went on to become productive.
I think you could help it in that by cutting notches around the callous that has started to form on both sides of the girdling, but better get other opinions on that.
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I girdle my grape vines every year, making a 1/8" gap in the bark/cambium layer. The vines fill that gap easily in a couple of months. I’ve girdled apple tree branches with wider girdles and had no problems with those either. However, the girdling was done around blooming time; so, I’m not sure that something girdled before winter would recover as easily. If the girdle didn’t destroy the cambium layer completely, I’m sure that there would be no problem.
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