Question
I just purchased a house with a flowering tree that appears to be about 15 years old. Sometime in the past it was staked using a piece of metal wire. At the point that the metal encircles the tree, rubber was used to protect the tree. This appears to have been done several years ago, and was left on the tree. It now is deeply embedded in the tree. I cannot get this wire out of the bark.  The tree has flowered on all of the branches that are alive. I did prune several dead branches a couple of weeks ago.

My question is will this tree be ok with this wire left inside its bark? Will this ultimately kill the tree? Should I try to dig the wire out using a knife?

Thank You in advance


Dave Keseian


Answer
At this point digging the wire out would cause more harm then leaving it in. The living layer of the tree is the outer layer just under the bark. If you dig the wire and cut all the way around the stem you will actually girdle the tree and could kill it. As the tree grows the bark area will expand and the tree will in time grow over the wire and the wire will end up in the woody layer of the stem. If you do anything you could just cut the wire in a couple of places and then as the tree grows it won't "strangle" the stem. You will probabally aways have a hump or flared out place on the stem where the wire in around the stem.