Head of the nursery just came out and had a look. He said the tree had been girdled by either twine or another root and the tree needed to be replaced.

Bummer this has happened but at least its being take care of now rather than later.

Interesting. He may well be correct about the twine girdling the trunk as I have seen that on bnb in a nursery. However, the longterm prognosis for the tree from what I can see is excellent. I'm surprised he replaced it.

I wonder if I am in the minority on this one.

I think it looks like it's repairing. If that were going to kill the tree, evidence of decline would've be apparent.

other ...

do not confuse these other peeps esoteric discussion of your tree ...

with the fact.. that your seller did the ABSOLUTE proper thing... in replacing it ...

you did not pay real good money..... to experiment ... with the MAYBEs of whether or not it will survive...

nice to see a story about a GOOD seller.. standing behind his product ... [now if he only hired peeps who would have saved him a lot of wages/time and profit.. and figured it out.. BEFORE THEY DUG IT OUT... lol]

did you have any discussion on proper planting depth .... ??? ... maybe if they exposed the root flare.. PRIOR to digging.. they could set in the hole at the proper depth ... though your didnt really end up.. all that bad ...

ken

The graft itself looks like it would be ok, it's the flat side looking like there are no roots on that side that would have me concerned. Kudos to the seller for standing behind his product.

tj

Thank you for all the comments. Seller is replacing the tree.

Went to look today at another nursery at the same trees along with some legacy sugar maples and all the grafts looked great and nothing like the tree planted above.

Planting depth was discussed prior to planting but still ended up a touch deeper than I would have liked.

We will get it right with the replacement tree in that I will have them expose the flare then measure depth of the hole.

There might be some back filling and stomping with clay in the hole after removal to bring the new tree up to right planting depth though.

Cheers!

Sounds like a pretty darn-good outcome...an educated customer and an accommodating and conscientious business person. Bravo!

+oM

Yes, it would be wonderful if all nurseries were as accommodating as yours, othertime! I would give that guy all the business he could handle =) Alas, that is not the case, here.

{{gwi:2122728}}
sam_md you need a new tree
treeowner but I love my tree
sam_md it don't matter
treeowner the tree is perfectly healthy
sam_md it don't matter
treeowner there's no dieback
sam_md it don't matter
treeowner there's no sign of graft incompatibility
sam_md it don't matter
treeowner who says I need a new tree?
sam_md geeks on Trees Forum
treeowner expletive deletive - expletive deletive
sam_md LOL:)LOL:)LOL:)LOL:)LOL:)LOL:)LOL:)

Well I think it...

This tree is property of the US Federal Gov't. Do you think that Trees Forum @Houzz should contact them and have the tree replaced?