the tree doesnt need any help in healing itself ... its a tree ...

do NOTHING ...

is this the SW side of the tree????

never heard of the term frost crack.. perhaps you are thinking sunscald ...

if you look close.. how do you imagine all the other lateral streaks in the bark were created .... are you sure this is out of the ordinary ...

we need an ID.. i dont recognize this tree.. by the bark ..

ken

Thanks Ken,

This is a Maple tree. The crack you see is on the SW side. The tree has some other issues (iron deficiency ) and we thought that this is a sign of it dying. But then we found from internet about frost crack (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost_crack). The pictures in Wikipedia looks very similar to this.

SW..eh ...

in winter.. the tree is frozen ... on warmish winter days.. the afternoon sun.. thaws that side of the tree .. and cracks are created due to the repeated thawing and freezing ...

you could wrap the tree ... plant a shrub on that side.. out away from the tree ... etc ...

so you can try to avoid future damage..

but what you can not do.. is FIX this damage.. the tree will take care of that ...

ken