The wound looks severe, but the tree appears to be encapsulating the wound very well. the tree looks healthy and i bet it will make it if no further new problems occur

Just curious - I guess you are sure this damage happened after you purchased it? The bark on the tree you planted was intact?

I wonder if this is more destruction from the severe freeze. How far north is "north Texas"? If trees aren't fully dormant and they experience a once in a century freeze event, it could cause bark damage. Especially a wholesale nursery produced tree that might have been pumped full of nitrogen up until the month you bought it.

Actually on closer inspection - this had to be earlier damage. Not sure about the policy of the nursery you bought from, but they shouldn't have sold that IMHO unless it were in a 'discount bin'. L Clark is right, it could probably seal it off...but if the tree was handled that poorly at the nursery I would be inclined to wonder what other ways it might have been mishandled...like having a circling, knotted root system that will fail 5, 10 or even 15 years down the road.

The more I keep a keen eye on plantings around my county and hear reports like this here...the more inclined I am to say, people should be steered away from planting large trees like this unless they come from an absolutely stellar nursery. This place, for example: http://www.raemelton.com/ grows everything in a field and only digs on purchase, with a marvelous machine with a gigantic U shaped blade. The one tree I got from them (they generally don't carry rare enough stuff to snag my interest) established perfectly well. But the kind of trees that have spent their life in a big wired up burlap bag and a feeder hose attached? I'll pass! Better to plant a 4-5' container grown, not pot bound oak - so that means it's going to be in a big 5 gallon pot at least - and properly loosen and splay the roots on planting. It will probably catch up and exceed a big B&B tree like this in 5 years.

Thank you both for your input.

L Clark - I'm relieved to hear that. Thank you! Will keep my fingers crossed.

David rt- yes I'm fairly certain there was no damage prior to the freeze. We are just east of Dallas. That would make perfect sense! The majority of the ice accumulation here was on the same side (north) as where the bark is damaged.

OK, what I think might have happened is there was some kind of damage that was concealed with a bit of 'healing' plant tissue, but the freeze made that pop off or fissure.

As long as it continues to seal over and you are confident you got it from a quality nursery (so no other issues like I mentioned) - just give it time.

last pic.. why is the lawn brown in a ring of about 2 feet outside the mulch???

and what do the kids playing with the spigot have to do with anything ...

i hope you are not watering with lawn irrigation .. you need to insure moisture to the depth of the root ball planted .. and not just the 2 inches where grass might grow ...

the uplight cracks me. up .. lol ... proud of your babe.. eh... lol ...

the healing has been going on for a few years ... i doubt frost had anything to do with it ... and it looks like its progressing fine enough.. leave it alone.. when the tree os 2 feet thick ... it just wont matter.. no paint.. no nothing ...

imo.. trees NEVER need fert ... and if you fert your lawn.. they will steal enough .. and if you mulch your grass that is also good enough ...no more fert ...

did yo have it delivered .. or is the wound were it was hanging out the back of the pickup bed????

ken

Ken,

I did wonder the same thing about the injury!

Ken,

I burned my grass a coupla weeks ago with a spray fertilizer. I mentioned the kids shutting off the water because I know nothing about trees. I wasn't sure if stress from a prior season could have cause an issue like this. I was trying to provide as much info as possible. I do a deep water about once a month. Go for about 20 min on a low drop till I see the ground saturated.

Lastly, yes I did get the trees delivered. They were cheap so I guess I can look forward to certain death here in a coupla years. At least I'll have a spotlight on em to see their demise through the evening. 🙂