I want to start off with saying this tree is important. I bought this for my wife when our son was born. We live here in Iowa and it's been a heavy Rainier I looked at the tree today and noticed a lot of the bark has been shedding. It's been a heavy Rain year. I don't know if that is playing some effect on this. The tree is otherwise healthy with green leaves and growing quickly. We have the tree fenced off so dogs and kids can't be touching it so unsure what's causing this. It is a red maple tree.
by seffdalib
2 Comments
The root flare is buried which is probably causing some problems. But this also could be sun scald. In the wild, red maples grow bushier as young trees which shades more of their bark.
I don’t think this is necessarily a death sentence for the tree, but if this tree does end up dying in a few years, I’d recommend an oak. Red maples are not native to most of Iowa. Bur oaks on the other hand are perfectly adapted to our climate, and they are our state tree.
Edit: when you uncover the root flare, add a ring of mulch around the base. You don’t want a volcano of mulch; just a thin ring of mulch, maybe a few inches deep.
https://www.clemson.edu/cafls/vincent/articles/show_me_your_root_flare.pdf