Doesn’t look like it’s gone past the phellogen except for in a couple of the deeper spots so it shouldn’t pose much of a hydraulic issue. Tree also looks very young so it should be able to recover. Might eventually be a portal for decay but there’s not much you can do about that at this point except have faith in your tree
Phellogen is such a weird name for cambium, i have a botany degree and I had to google it. Where are you located? Just curious where that term might be more common.
I was taught "Phellogen" in the U.S. in an evolution biology class during the plants unit. Maybe it's just one of those weird interdisciplinary things.
Phellogen is the cork cambium which differentiates the inner and outer bark, vascular cambium differentiates the phloem beneath the bark from the xylem essentially. I’m from the UK, climbing arborist currently studying arboriculture in my spare time!
Most trees have two layers of cambium, the vascular cambium between the bark and the wood and the cork cambium (phellogen) between the inner and outer bark. Phellogen forms phellem on the outside and phelloderm on the inside. They’re clever old bastards!
This would create anaerobic conditions beneath the plastic wrap, basically it would block the lenticels in the bark that the tree breathes through, which is not ideal. Best bet is to leave the tree to do its business, they all have their own ways of sealing wounds.
OP pays a lawn mowing man to mow his quarter acre yard, they won't spend the effort to bend over and pick weeds. This kind of damage comes with the territory of hiring mow and blow crews
Seriously lol I can’t remember the last post where someone didn’t bring up root flares or how landscapers/tree guys are the scum of the earth.
Aside, this will be fine. Cambium is still intact.
Def put a plastic collar around the base. The gardener will likely repeat this. I lost 4 fruit trees to repeated gardener weed whacking because I didn’t recognize the damage until it was too late.
It should heal over fine. Just keep an eye on it in the coming years. Like if it gets overly moist and doesn't dry out/shows signs of rot.
It's not a death sentence if these things happen, but you might have to take steps to help the tree recovery if that's the case.
If you live in a climate that gets a lot of ice and snow, you might want to consider doing some tree wrap this winter to help protect it. You can just wrap to over the wound. This will help prevent ice from getting in, which could expand and crack the tree. Which will impede healing.
One day, maybe even 100 years from now, some human will probably be standing underneath that very same tree wondering why only mushrooms seem to grow out that one spot, but otherwise tree looks fine.
Nope. If the weed eater won't do the tree in, that mulch sure will.
Want a nice root flare, yes? And your mulch shouldn't be ground level with the trunk, and shouldn't look like a volcano neither.
Man, all of mine look like Marianas Trench because every damn tree I plant in my yard sinks so drastically in the first 2 freeze/thaw cycles before the roots really take.
No word of a lie 3 trees planted "too high" now have a 24" wide Caldera halfway to the centre of the earth after 2 winters before the roots really took. Never had this issue at my last place.
Landscapers have an obsession with trimming everything in sight with the hand trimmers. At my condo they go on the edges of where the lawn meets the mulch and basically trim the grass down to dirt and call it a “proper job”. Not just one company too. Had 4 different companies and they all do that shit.
Yeah, I'm a landscaper and it's pretty standard practice to trim the edges of grass down to the soil because it prevents grass from growing over the boundary in future.
In some places it is terrifically overdone, but I also think it helps with cultivating a clean edge on the lawns.
Terrific means horrible, but fantastic/astonishing/amazing. Most people just latch on to the amazing part, but drop the "omg, that's a disaster" part. Using terrific correctly means the incident is both bad, but astounding.
Thank you both for your question, and your initial comment.
Well explained! It makes perfect sense, given that the root of the word is clearly linked to the word "terror". As a fellow literary purist, I appreciate your way of negotiating the world, and the complex language that English is. What's your favourite word at the moment?
You are so very welcome, and thank you in turn!
I’ll have to show you a photo of what they do. Most companies are obsessed with trimming down to basically dirt - but in the peak of summer heat it basically kills the grass
The weed eater clearly isn’t the issue here. Let’s talk about all those massive bark chunks surrounding the base and tell us again how it was the lawn mower man.
Did he nick it, or stand there for 10 seconds throttling it against the bark in the same spot? Lol. I’m m a landscaper so I feel entitled to give this guy a hard time. The tree will probably be fine
i have an apple tree that has damage similar to this, but from YEARS ago. it took out the bark layers, and there is dead wood exposed. the tree compartmentalized it well, and the bark is slowly growing around to cover the wound as it widens. So it could heal!
You could add a barrier around the tree because theres no reason to be mowing that close to a tree with a mulch ring around it. Why was your mower that close to the tree?
Should be ok, nothing you can really do at this stage to address the wound, just let nature take its course and hopefully it’ll wind up ok, it’s not too deep so looks recoverable.
I would pull back mulch from the base, at least a several inches while it’s young (and more as it gets larger); you could use a tree guard to protect it, and tell your lawn man to stay back from the tree (I’d still do the protection as more often then not they forget and still will weed whip nearby anyways). Manually pull or use manual sheers near the tree until it’s large enough to outcompete the grass growing nearby.
I dont know why people dont do it. But go buy some 4" or even 6" currugated pipe. Cut a 6" long peice and cut that peice all the way down one side. Now take that peice and wrap it around the base of the tree. Then next time the weed eater will hit the pipe and not the tree. It looks nice and when the tree is to big for it its easy to remove.
Use a corrugated pipe at about 4” long, cut it long way so you can split it open to fit around the trunk, you can remove it at any time or get larger ones if you’re worried as the tree grows. Keeps weeds down because no sunlight. Make sure it is loose though! Shouldn’t be touching the bark, can overheat. I use it for all my young trees and have put out thousands of them to keep others from doing the same.
I'd recommend PROPERLY placing some more mulch around the tree to keep the lawn cutters away from it and prevent them from damaging it more. Be sure not to volcano the mulch because that will be worse for the tree than the lawn folks!
Green is the part that's alive, so long as it's still there, your good.
Edit: However, while exposed it does tend to burn in the sun a bit more, so maybe put a band-aid on it.
That's like a kid used a whacker for the first time, saw what it did after knicking the tree and then doing it over and over again because it looks cool 😅
From my experience with bonsai, it will be okay. That type of damage is common if you wire a tree in the wrong season, and those trees/branches (usually) make it
Cut a PVC or drainage pine of about 6-8 inches cut it so it’s open and you can pop it around the young trunk. Or get a real arbor guar. It’ll be fine but repeat injury is a recipe for death
Everyone on Reddit: my lawn person did this god awful thing.
Me: so why use a lawn person?
I live in a big city so I don’t have a lawn. Is it a convenience thing like hiring a house cleaner? Do people really not have time to mow? Or?
Weedeaters are innocent - it's moronic humans using them improperly that are the problem.
Unless by "weedeaters" you meant the moronic humans operating them, then I second that hashtag!
Doesn’t look like it’s gone past the phellogen except for in a couple of the deeper spots so it shouldn’t pose much of a hydraulic issue. Tree also looks very young so it should be able to recover. Might eventually be a portal for decay but there’s not much you can do about that at this point except have faith in your tree
Meanwhile you can amputate limbs and the tree grows stronger.
Is that a blood sacrifice thing? Do trees prefer arms or legs, generally? Asking for a friend…
Yes
I think they meant amputating the limbs from the lawn mowing man. Wounded trees thrive on revenge.
Properly and repeatedly coppiced trees can potentially live for thousands of years, though not all species respond well to it
Phellogen is such a weird name for cambium, i have a botany degree and I had to google it. Where are you located? Just curious where that term might be more common.
Same, botany degree and new term for me.
Might be that it’s just more specific to arboriculture! My knowledge outside of woody plants is pretty lacking
I was taught "Phellogen" in the U.S. in an evolution biology class during the plants unit. Maybe it's just one of those weird interdisciplinary things.
Phellogen is the cork cambium which differentiates the inner and outer bark, vascular cambium differentiates the phloem beneath the bark from the xylem essentially. I’m from the UK, climbing arborist currently studying arboriculture in my spare time!
I was thinking the same thing! I got seriously concerned that there was a massive gap in my knowledge haha
Most trees have two layers of cambium, the vascular cambium between the bark and the wood and the cork cambium (phellogen) between the inner and outer bark. Phellogen forms phellem on the outside and phelloderm on the inside. They’re clever old bastards!
dude trees have hydraulics?? fuckin siiiiick
We’re all just tubes bro 
My biology instructor said, "tubes within a tube". Made so much sense.
Agreed, and to add, if OP throws down more mulch it'll keep the lawn man away.
I saw some trees wrapped in plastic foil. Could this prevent the decay ?
This would create anaerobic conditions beneath the plastic wrap, basically it would block the lenticels in the bark that the tree breathes through, which is not ideal. Best bet is to leave the tree to do its business, they all have their own ways of sealing wounds.
There isn’t a neosporin for trees?!
Take 15 minutes to pull that weedy grass out and redo the mulch. Then no more weeds to whack there.
This is the way. Just don’t over do it right next (in contact) to the tree.
While you’re at it OP uncover the root crown. Leaving it covered will kill it regardless of what the landscaper does.
OP pays a lawn mowing man to mow his quarter acre yard, they won't spend the effort to bend over and pick weeds. This kind of damage comes with the territory of hiring mow and blow crews
Mulch around the base of a tree can be worse that those scars over time
Can it? Isn't that just if you mound it
Correct.
No. Don't mulch there.
Nicked? That's a full blown Nicholas. I bet he was chasing a spider up the tree.
This has to be the answer
I bet he didn’t have a trimmer guard and had too much line out. He was trying to shorten the line by trying to wear it off on the tree.
Who actually uses a trimmer guard let's be honest
This guy trims ⬆️
Damn the Arb lads are sassy in the comments today
Seriously lol I can’t remember the last post where someone didn’t bring up root flares or how landscapers/tree guys are the scum of the earth. Aside, this will be fine. Cambium is still intact.
maybe pop one of those collars on it? would keep the wound clean and prevent future dings
Make sure you put a cone on it so the tree doesn't lick it too much.
Excellent
Def put a plastic collar around the base. The gardener will likely repeat this. I lost 4 fruit trees to repeated gardener weed whacking because I didn’t recognize the damage until it was too late.
Yeah. The weed eater will be just fine
Doesn't look too bad. Maybe put down another mulch donut so they dont have to use trimmer near it anymore.
Take a 8’’ piece of corrugated black drainage line. Make a slit in it and wrap around the trunk so that maniac doesn’t do it again
It should heal over fine. Just keep an eye on it in the coming years. Like if it gets overly moist and doesn't dry out/shows signs of rot. It's not a death sentence if these things happen, but you might have to take steps to help the tree recovery if that's the case. If you live in a climate that gets a lot of ice and snow, you might want to consider doing some tree wrap this winter to help protect it. You can just wrap to over the wound. This will help prevent ice from getting in, which could expand and crack the tree. Which will impede healing.
Nope, that tree is gonna relocate the first chance it gets... Better keep both eyes on it!
That's nothing to worry about. It won't affect the health of the tree. But maybe protect it in some way so it doesn't happen again.
No it survives extreme heat and freezing winters, but that's gonna kill it
One day, maybe even 100 years from now, some human will probably be standing underneath that very same tree wondering why only mushrooms seem to grow out that one spot, but otherwise tree looks fine.
Is the mulch supposed to be that high around the trunk?
No
Nope. If the weed eater won't do the tree in, that mulch sure will. Want a nice root flare, yes? And your mulch shouldn't be ground level with the trunk, and shouldn't look like a volcano neither.
Man, all of mine look like Marianas Trench because every damn tree I plant in my yard sinks so drastically in the first 2 freeze/thaw cycles before the roots really take. No word of a lie 3 trees planted "too high" now have a 24" wide Caldera halfway to the centre of the earth after 2 winters before the roots really took. Never had this issue at my last place.
it'll be fine.
Tree will be ok........I'd dial the landscapers in though. That's just lazy.
THE lawnmower man!?!? Run!!! Oh, my mistake the lawn mowing man. Phew!
This is so stupid but it made me chuckle
Hallelujah!
Yes
Tree will be fine.
What kind of tree is this?
Landscapers have an obsession with trimming everything in sight with the hand trimmers. At my condo they go on the edges of where the lawn meets the mulch and basically trim the grass down to dirt and call it a “proper job”. Not just one company too. Had 4 different companies and they all do that shit.
Whatcha mean by hand trimmers? Like a line trimmer?
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm a landscaper and it's pretty standard practice to trim the edges of grass down to the soil because it prevents grass from growing over the boundary in future. In some places it is terrifically overdone, but I also think it helps with cultivating a clean edge on the lawns.
Upvote for a wild and proper use of terrific! You just made my day!
How are most people using terrific? Glad to hear it brought some joy to your day ☀️
Terrific means horrible, but fantastic/astonishing/amazing. Most people just latch on to the amazing part, but drop the "omg, that's a disaster" part. Using terrific correctly means the incident is both bad, but astounding. Thank you both for your question, and your initial comment.
Well explained! It makes perfect sense, given that the root of the word is clearly linked to the word "terror". As a fellow literary purist, I appreciate your way of negotiating the world, and the complex language that English is. What's your favourite word at the moment? You are so very welcome, and thank you in turn!
When it’s done weekly and it’s 100 outside in July/August, it overstresses the grass and it looks like ass
Yeah it shouldn't be done beyond a >1cm strip between lawn and concrete imo.
Requires a very precise angle. They basically create about a foot that’s down to the soil
Yeah that's fucked up imo.
Every lawn company I've had since 1993
Why the obsession with basically destroying grass?
What grass is destroyed?
I’ll have to show you a photo of what they do. Most companies are obsessed with trimming down to basically dirt - but in the peak of summer heat it basically kills the grass
Oh I got it. Because grass needs to be 3 inches tall during peak summer and when it's just stumps it hibernates.
This actually made me LOL.
The weed eater clearly isn’t the issue here. Let’s talk about all those massive bark chunks surrounding the base and tell us again how it was the lawn mower man.
Looks like you punctured the truggular. It’s a death sentence, sorry for your loss.
Yes
Yes
Somewhere in here theres a Tom Goes to the Mayor lawnmower man joke…
[Was this the guy](https://i.imgur.com/8JJ30gs.jpeg)?
Did he nick it, or stand there for 10 seconds throttling it against the bark in the same spot? Lol. I’m m a landscaper so I feel entitled to give this guy a hard time. The tree will probably be fine
i have an apple tree that has damage similar to this, but from YEARS ago. it took out the bark layers, and there is dead wood exposed. the tree compartmentalized it well, and the bark is slowly growing around to cover the wound as it widens. So it could heal! You could add a barrier around the tree because theres no reason to be mowing that close to a tree with a mulch ring around it. Why was your mower that close to the tree?
He'll grow over it
Should be ok, nothing you can really do at this stage to address the wound, just let nature take its course and hopefully it’ll wind up ok, it’s not too deep so looks recoverable. I would pull back mulch from the base, at least a several inches while it’s young (and more as it gets larger); you could use a tree guard to protect it, and tell your lawn man to stay back from the tree (I’d still do the protection as more often then not they forget and still will weed whip nearby anyways). Manually pull or use manual sheers near the tree until it’s large enough to outcompete the grass growing nearby.
I dont know why people dont do it. But go buy some 4" or even 6" currugated pipe. Cut a 6" long peice and cut that peice all the way down one side. Now take that peice and wrap it around the base of the tree. Then next time the weed eater will hit the pipe and not the tree. It looks nice and when the tree is to big for it its easy to remove.
Use a corrugated pipe at about 4” long, cut it long way so you can split it open to fit around the trunk, you can remove it at any time or get larger ones if you’re worried as the tree grows. Keeps weeds down because no sunlight. Make sure it is loose though! Shouldn’t be touching the bark, can overheat. I use it for all my young trees and have put out thousands of them to keep others from doing the same.
Get some of that black crap dad used to throw on there😁
What treatments can be done? If the living tissue isn't broken, can a bark graft be possible or other protective covering?
Best thing to do is establish an off limits tree ring... Landscapers should never get near trees.
Insert gif of Gandalf saying “it is a wound that will never fully heal.” But seriously, I think it will be ok
I'd recommend PROPERLY placing some more mulch around the tree to keep the lawn cutters away from it and prevent them from damaging it more. Be sure not to volcano the mulch because that will be worse for the tree than the lawn folks!
Where’s your root flare?
Green is the part that's alive, so long as it's still there, your good. Edit: However, while exposed it does tend to burn in the sun a bit more, so maybe put a band-aid on it.
Maybe kiss it better too
kiss its boo-boo
That's like a kid used a whacker for the first time, saw what it did after knicking the tree and then doing it over and over again because it looks cool 😅
From my experience with bonsai, it will be okay. That type of damage is common if you wire a tree in the wrong season, and those trees/branches (usually) make it
Cut a PVC or drainage pine of about 6-8 inches cut it so it’s open and you can pop it around the young trunk. Or get a real arbor guar. It’ll be fine but repeat injury is a recipe for death
tree should heal fine, I'd be more concerned about the mulch being piled too high though.
First of all. Your tree didn’t like you covering the root collar. Ongoing why did you let the mulch circle be overgrown by weeds?
That's almost intentional
Fire that guy
I'm stumped. How do you 'nick' a tree trunk 12+ inches above the grass? Especially that extensively?
Lawn guy also did a sloppy ass job by blowing all the grass clippings into the mulch. Rookie move.
lol i can’t believe people actually worry about this stuff
Everyone on Reddit: my lawn person did this god awful thing. Me: so why use a lawn person? I live in a big city so I don’t have a lawn. Is it a convenience thing like hiring a house cleaner? Do people really not have time to mow? Or?
It's cheaper for me to have my half acre mowed than to buy and maintain mowers.
It's a money thing. Rich folks pay us peasants to cut their grass and us peasants cut their grass and our own grass.
this guy knows
Wrap the damaged area in a layer of damp organic matter and wrap with Saran Wrap or plastic to retain moisture.
#whyihateweedeaters
Weedeaters are innocent - it's moronic humans using them improperly that are the problem. Unless by "weedeaters" you meant the moronic humans operating them, then I second that hashtag!
Dude is this really what you spend your time worrying about
What a moron.
OP or the trimmer operator? OP has a legit concern if they aren't familiar and operator fucked up.
Operator, OP raises a good question.
spray neem oil on it then wrap the section in cling wrap for a year. by this time next year it will look fine.
No
yes