There are times when installing guy wires to a tree are necessary for helping to straighten the tree as it grows. But like everything, eventually that time passes and either the guying of the tree worked or it didn’t. At that point, the wires and supports put on the tree need to be either adjusted or removed, to avoid unintended damage to the tree. In all cases though, ultimately the wires need to be removed at some point.
Pictured here is a situation where the wires were removed and no longer anchored into the ground, but the wrap around the trunk was never removed. This resulted in the wrap girdling the tree and impacting the flow of water and nutrients throughout the tree. You will notice in the picture, that everything above the red line is under significant decline and a stark contrast in needle density and color compared to everything below the red line which is in much better shape. The red line is where the wrap around the trunk was in place. A tree in this condition will unfortunately not be in the landscape much longer.
This stress to the tree caused by girdling (aka choking) not only physically harms the tree, but makes it more susceptible to other insect and disease pathogens such as cytospora canker or rhizosphaera needle cast. In this case, cytospora has set in and is compounding the decline of the tree.
Next time you wrap something around the trunk or branch of your tree, you ought to think twice about how that will impact your tree. The tree will naturally grow around whatever is wrapped around it, ultimately girdling the tree and being a primary factor to it’s demise. Try to avoid wrapping anything around any part of your tree for extended periods of time or repetitively, this includes hanging bird feeders, dog leashes or anything else that could lead to the girdling of a branch or trunk. If you can do that, you will extend the life of your tree and enjoy it’s beauty in our urban forest!
