red maple tree damage - sunscald injuryIt looks like this could be an old sunscald injury. This happens when the sap in an area of a tree begins to flow on a warm winter day. The temperatures then get too cold at night and cause the areas that are moving sap to die. Unfortunately, this injury will take years for the tree to heal over.

Here are a couple things that you can do to prevent further injury:

1. Remove any dead loose hanging bark. Dead bark is usually brittle and can be cut off with a pruners. It looks like the center strip of bark is possibly dead. Damaging insects can live under the dead bark and cause more injury. Keep a bottle of Eight insect dust and periodically dust the area.

2. Protect the bark from getting too warm in the winter. Purchase a roll of paper tree wrap to wrap the trunk in the fall. This will help keep the sun off the trunk and prevent further sunscald injury. Remove the paper wrap by Easter.

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