it might.. if you can quite peeling back the bark ...

the issue is the cambium layer ... its the vascular system of any plant... it carries water up from the roots.. and energy from photosynthesis back down to store int eh roots ...

as long as a good amount of that process remains intact ...then the plant should survive ..

you seams are vertical.. rather that horizontally.. so one might suspect that the system is rather intact ..

tree time is counted in decades ... if it were mine.. i would leave it alone.. and watch what happens.. and see if it dies in the next year or 3 .. and keep us posted... never seen anything like this ..

what i might worry about.. is that there is actual interior structural damage to the tree.. that will cause bigger problems in the long run ... if i run with the vascular analogy.. then i may as well say here.. if it has any broken bones that we cant see under the bark ...

anyway... just see what happens as the heat of summer builds.. august usually tells us.. when you have interruption in water movement thru plants ..

could we see the whole tree... and what are all those broken branches from.. and where are you.. big city name ... we had some bad storms roll thru MI the other night ...

do keep us posted...

ken

ps: and no.. i dont recommend you do anything about it.. ANYTHING you or i dream up.. is contrary to nature ... and in the long run... probably would create more problems than solve ...

OK, thanks. I was going to ask if the area should be wrapped.

I would snuggly wrap the entire trunk from where the crack begins to up above it using a wide tie down strap, leave on for several months and all "should be" nicely healed, if the tie begins at all cutting into the trunk, loosen it up a bit! Leaving the crack as is and healing will be long drawn out with the possibility of a good deal of the lifted bark being lost and providing cozy space for insects to and rot to take up. Longevity of the tree will depend the healing secured and also if any major amount of damage has been done to the heart wood, can't hurt though to give it a go and possibly yet the tree many have some productive years ahead!

Yes, think of it as you would a large graft wound. Wrap it air tight with something like saran wrap so it doesn't dry out.

Another storm might do it in so staking may be in order. It might fail but that's just part of gardening, right? ;-)

By now, I would think that the wound would show signs of healing.

Thanks for the update! :-)

OK...

Tree has healed up pretty good. Tree has flowered and leafing out. Looks to have recovered.

Great! Thanks for posting.

Any pics?

One comment.

We must remember that there has been less than one season of healing so far.

So what we have is one layer of new bark covering the outside, with a damaged, cracked heartwood inside.

Wood doesn't heal like a bone would. The only healing is the outside layer of inner bark. And that will increase and thicken each season that the tree is healthy.

It will take several years before there will be a thick enough outer layer of new wood (sapwood) to be able to support the tree, even during windy weather and storms.

So you'll want to keep the tree braced for several years until the new outer trunk is strong enough to support the tree,

Pruning to keep the top smaller, as is done with some fruit trees, may help keep the weight down.

OK, thanks for the tips!