no bark on trees
Posted by Pamela S. Dougherty-Smith on January 2, 2007
Q: Our horses have eaten the bottom bark entirely around several of our trees. This past spring and summer, they produced some leaves. Will they die? Is there anything we can do to save them?
State: Texas
A: Ooh, doesn't sound good for your trees! If your horses chewed deeply enough to remove the cambium all around (this is the actively growing part of the tree) your trees will not make it. Even when this occurs, a tree may be able to produce some leaves initially, but this is short-lived. I know that in some situations with horses, people will wrap chicken wire around their trees' trunks to prevent this from happening. I'm not a specialist on horses so I found a website that discusses "wood chewing". Check out www.horsekeeping.com
So examine your trees and if they've been chewed rather deeply all the way around, these won't live but any others should be protected to prevent more trees from this fate. Hope this helps.
John Wiessinger ( January 3, 2007)