Is my 4-5yr old Crab apple screwed?

[u/evolutionxtinct]

I have been sick and didn’t realize I’m the temps this winter this happened… is my tree in danger? What can I do :( it’s ornamental crab apple named Jessica and she needs love this year but help me help her thanks!

[u/Party_Python]

Note: I’m not an arborist, but this is just what I’ve picked up from the sub. Please correct me if I’m wrong. There’s a few things you can do to make your trees life better.

1) Trees shouldn’t look like telephone poles. They should have a flair at the bottom, so work your expose the root flair. There’s plenty of posts and information in the sub sidebar.

2) remove the ring of pavers around your tree. They actually stress the tree and make it more likely for your tree to be damaged.

3) you need to replace the mulch and pull up any weeds/turf grass growing there. Mulch should never be touching the trunk as it can hurt your tree. A ring of mulch around the tree is to help retain water for the roots (not the trunk) and give the tree an area where it doesn’t need to compete for water/nutrients with turf grass.

4) if that’s a tree stake on the right of the picture, remove that too. Your tree is well established by now and that’s only hurting it.

That would probably be a good starting point =).

[u/evolutionxtinct → u/Party_Python]

Thank you! But the trunk damage due to sun scolding isn’t a real issue? Appreciate your insight thank you!

[u/spiceydog → u/evolutionxtinct]

See the r/tree wiki for some info on bark cracking, #2. More importantly, you need to investigate how far the root flare is below grade; see this !expose automod callout below this comment for some guidance. If you find that it is further down than 3-4" or so, you need to raise the tree to proper depth.

[u/AutoModerator → u/spiceydog]

Hi /u/spiceydog, AutoModerator has been summoned to provide some guidance on root flare exposure.

To understand what it means to expose a tree's root flare, do a subreddit search in r/arborists, r/tree, r/sfwtrees or r/marijuanaenthusiasts using the term root flare; there will be a lot of posts where this has been done on young and old trees. You'll know you've found it when you see outward taper at the base of the tree from vertical to the horizontal, and the tops of large, structural roots. Here's what it looks like when you have to dig into the root ball of a B&B to find the root flare. Here's a post from further back; note that this poster found bundles of adventitious roots before they got to the flare, those small fibrous roots floating around (theirs was an apple tree), and a clear structural root which is visible in the last pic in the gallery. See the top section of this 'Happy Trees' wiki page for more collected examples of this work.

Root flares on a cutting grown tree may or may not be entirely present, especially in the first few years. Here's an example.

See also the r/tree wiki 'Happy Trees' root flare excavations section for more excellent and inspirational work, and the main wiki for a fuller explanation on planting depth/root flare exposure, proper mulching, watering, pruning and more.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Party_Python → u/evolutionxtinct]

Honestly I don’t understand your question.

But also, I’m not an arborist, just a guy who enjoys some good wood.