same question elsewhere with one response (see the link)

Here is a link that might be useful: same question elsewhere

I'm not a tree expert, so I can't answer the question if the damage is terminal, but I wanted to tell you that you need to wrap that tree immediately with tree wrap, and then wrap some hardware cloth around it. If you don't, the voles (or rabbits) will surely kill that tree. They're hungry, and they will come back for more.

Ask me how I know. Actually don't, just thinking about all the damage we've suffered from rodents pisses me off and puts me in a bad mood. lol

doubt it ....

buy one of those spiral plastic thingees... and put it on each of your new trees .. see link ... should be more than a buck or two ...

i am more concerned about it not being set solid.. in mother earth ... why is it already moving ...???

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

I have clay soil and when i planted the tree i made the clay wet. So where it moved is where the soil dried. and i am staking it because it is slightly curved. When it starts growing in the spring, i want it to grow more straight.

What Ken said!

Seriously, there are only two problems to deal with.

Firstly, wrap the trunk with something that keeps critters (dogs, rats, grand kids, rodents, weed whackers) away. Anything. Hardware cloth or chicken wire or plastic wrap or an old cotton towel or anything. Don't bother to treat the wounds; let them air dry. Remove such protection when the tree is big enough to not give a sh**.

Secondly, please stop cross posting. It's annoying, but then again I'm way too easily annoyed. Too many marriages. If you have an honest question, people will find it and read it. People who are conscientious about giving well thought out opinions will feel obliged to go back and forth to see what others have said. If you want a stranger's opinion you have to give it some value.

The trunk damage WILL seal up...eventually. (Are you sure the damage was not mechanical of some sort and not due to animals?--It does look weird for an animal.) Maybe it will not seal in a single growing season, but in 2 to 3 seasons, assuming the damage does not go around the tree but is limited to the photo in your posting. I see seasonal deer rutting damage, (no rodents due to feral cats), and the wounds always seal up on their own. You can wrap it with a trunk protector (one that allows ventilation), but do not apply any sealants to the wound itself. As stated above, the bigger problem is how it is not set firmly in the ground, maybe someone with similar soil conditions might be able to advise you on that problem. Good luck and Happy New Year!

This post was edited by njoasis on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 14:23

Wrap it before it happens again.

Interesting -- no idea what could cause that.

It's interesting how you get different advise on different forums. I noticed that at least two people on the Fruit Forum thread recommended sealing the wound. Appleseed70 even recommended waiting until spring to do that. That's just the kind of nutty misinformation that led me to finally give up on the Fruit and Orchards Forum.

I would suggest using a cylinder of hardware cloth to protect the tree rather than any sort of wrapping. You do not want something that will retain moisture around the places where the bark has been stripped off. Fungal and other sorts of infection are far more likely in a moist environment. Far better to allow sun and air to "help" the tree heal itself. Plums, like all prunus species, are prone to borer infection. Next spring it would be a good idea to take extra preventative measures against them. Your County Extension Servce or state agriculture department are the best sources for information about the best ways of doing this in your particular location.

During a walk through a grove, a farmer pointed to a tree trunk explaining that one of his employees accidentally backed into a tree with a truck. It looks very similar to your tree's injury. Anyway, I hope your tree gets a little more protection and heals nicely.

Don't seal or paint. Advice given above is appropriate. This does not look like cat, or even rodent. I don't see gnawing, but it does looked like a flap as been pulled up and then ripped off, judging by she shape of it. Usually humans do 'that' kind of damage, or something like deer, but that's not deer, either. If you do ever have a chunk taken out that forms a flap, carefully trim the flap off flush and never pull it off. I did that a time or two when I first started pruning years ago, and learnt the hard way. I've seen far worse wounds than this heal up just fine if the only damage is what is apparent by the photograph. I plant in heavy clay too on part of my property, and it looks like there were air pockets around the root ball and they collapsed when the wet soil settled with watering and if this is the case, at the right moisture level, you can take a maddock or something with tines and work the surface up and add a bit more soil, watering it in a bit at a time. But if the soil stays so wet after you watered in and didn't percolate out, and made the tree float in it's situation, you have problems staking won't help. You can plant a lot of trees in heavy clay if you work with it, and not against it, but I've found that planting on high spots, or inclines helps the moisture drain off eventually. If you chose low areas where it can't, you're setting yourself up for issues with aeration or rots down the road and you can literally watch them delcline. It's not always about where you want the tree as much as where the tree wants to be.

i have been meaning to tell you ...

i have had rabbits do worse ... on a similar plant... and all other things proper.. they come back ...

so all you need worry about.. is all other things.. lol ...

you dont really want to know.. what i have done to things.. over the years... lol

ken

Do not rule out a ground hog.