No sealer!!!! Leave it as-is. I wouldn't mind seeing a picture of exactly what you are dealing with, but it wouldn't change the advice to not use sealer.

Probably not the situation for sealer. Your wounds are not huge and should be encapsulated by the tree before much rot sets in. Also if I recall (and I am not the plum expert), Newports generally succumb to some kind of disease before getting old enough to rot out.

If this were a young oak or similar LONG lived tree I would be more tempted to seal it. Then again we would be taking a total guess what to use. Believe it or not, using the wrong sealer is worse than allowing the structural wood time to dry out and crack and letting moisture and the bugs in.

From Linda Chalker-Scott's article, The Myth of Wound Dressings, ....

Wound dressings do:
- seal in moisture and decay
- sometimes serve as a food source for pathogens
- prevent wound wood from forming
- inhibit compartmentalization
- eventually crack (or wear away), exposing the tree to pathogens

Wound dressings do not:
- prevent entrance of decay organisms
- stop rot

no clue what is cracking based on words alone...

regardless.. what they said ... on sealers

is the bark cracking.. or the interior wood???

pic????

ken

Sometimes sealer is recommended in specific circumstances. One should never say no completely without research. There is no Oak Wilt in the PNW where LCS lives. If you have an oak that you care about in the Midwest and TX then you would want to seal. It is spreading. Sometimes the benefits outweigh disadvantages.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oak Wilt in Texas

This post was edited by fairfield8619 on Thu, Mar 27, 14 at 13:22

Ken: Interior wood. Much like the ends of firewood thatâÂÂs been stacked for awhile. IâÂÂll try to get a pic when it stops raining. Thanks to all for the replies.

Fairfield, oak wilt on a Newport plum...don't think so! As a matter of fact, I can't think of ANY reason to use sealer on this tree for the stated problem. I stick to my recommendation!

(A picture will still be a good idea for other ideas/discussion.)

There you go again, I said in specific circumstances, nothing about a plum, speaking in general terms. Let's not mislead someone that it is always bad, somebody even mentioned oaks.

Speaking of things mentioned, isn't it misleading to reference oak wilt when discussing Newport plums? It sure seems so to me! Unless you have an example that applies to THIS case, I don't get your point. Newport plums do not get oak wilt, so it's consideration seems COMPLETELY irrelevant to this conversation.

Checked it out again and the cracks are gone. Maybe the rain had some effect? As I am slowly learning, sometimes I should just leave the tree alone to fix itself. Thanks for all the replies. Glad it was (at least for now) a false alarm.

It still wouldn't hurt to shoot us a picture if you want to. Weather it would be of any help is impossible to know without seeing the picture, but it might be. If you feel very confident in the way it was pruned, then never mind. If you want second opinions on the pruning job, pictures would be needed.