I was shocked and saddened to find that my fire dragon shantung maple had been completely girdled by something in my back yard. The tree had been in the ground for two years, and was thriving. It was probably 2 years old and 5 feet tall when planted. Today it is 8 feet tall, as high as my privacy fence that surrounds it. I don't have any cats or dogs. There are some squirrels around, but the upper branches of the tree are still about 5 feet from the top of the fence - it'd take a brave squirrel to make that leap. The damage starts on the trunk about 3 feet off of the ground and works up for about 8 inches. It appears about 90 - 95% of the bark was removed (or chewed off) for this 8 inch stretch. Ketih at Metro Maples told me the tree would last at least a week before starting to wither and die. I have no idea how long the damage has been there, I cannot see the trunk of the tree from my house due to the density of the foliage around the tree. The tree still seems healthy now, but I'm expecting the leaves to wilt soon. I am all organic and have spotted mice around the compost pile in the past, but nothing else. Has anyone ever heard of damage like this? I expect I will replace the tree with something native next time. -sad
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