So sorry Irene. 11 years is a big loss anywhere. How old is the damage?

advice? first, "Keep the sheep away from your tree's".

second, how tall is the damage? How tall is the gap?

Is bridge grafting an option to re-continue the bark?

Too bad it is coming on winter. All the best luck, please keep us informed.

Do you know if the trees are grafted trees? I assume they are. If the new growth is coming from below the graft line, it's rootstock growth and won't be the apple variety you originally planted. If the growth is from above the graft line, you should be in luck but in my experience on a mature tree like yours, any growth that low will be root stock. You can graft onto that rootstock if you wanted to try that.

Thanks for comments. The growth is from above the rootstock but everything above the damage is dead. Total length of damage is about 600mm. Can I graft above damage even if all looks dead. Damage is 3 years old. I painted damage with pruning balm and wrapped with cloth. Most appeared fine for next 2 years but then died last winter.

Hi Irene,

Is above really dead? snapping deadwood? If so removal of dead tissue is in order. Dead wood never did nothing good. You are way up north? Shorter growing seasons? The new growth from 6" above the graft on an established tree w/required cold hardiness could be a great head start to regrow/coax a new apical meristem. Just an assumption, but the new growth appears to have minor fruiting spurs?? If the new growth had traversed the damaged area before the upper tree had died, I would have bridge grafted the new growth to above the damage for bark continuation. I am learning apple trees here in East Texas. I have 7 of 3 different varieties. Have grafted/top worked 3 from own root to Red Delicious, alot more to them than I would have thought. But definitely a worthwhile adventure. We need a cold winter here.

Looking at the leaves of new growth it does appear that it's not the root stock. Time will tell when getting fruit, if its the rootstock, grafting onto it is better then getting rid of since the roots are established..you'll be ahead. I wouldn't even attempt keeping the stripped top alive, [even with still some live wood] you're are much better off cutting it down, in no time you don't even know what happened, you'll end up with a better trunk...this much dead tissue takes years to heal in.