Apricot Bark Lifting and Healing after Borer Removal

Q. With the leaves off, I got a good look at our apricot tree and found two limbs with bark severely damaged. It looks like the bark is completely gone down to the wood underneath.  What, if anything, can be done to salvage these limbs? 

A. Bark easily lifted from tree limbs or the trunk no longer protect anything that’s alive. Plant parts below this bark is dead, whether killed by borers or intense sunlight. Dead is dead. Unlike how animals heal, the living wood surrounding this dead area must “roll” back on top this dead area and cover it.

Limbs were removed from this peach tree due to borer damage and the trunk is healing by "rolling over" where limbs were removed.

            If the damaged area is more than half of the way around the limb then considers removing it. If the damaged area is half or less, remove the loose bark and encourage it to heal properly through irrigation and fertilizers.

            Removing loose bark covering this dead wood helps the plant heal faster and new growth to roll over it. Healing is a waiting game. Healing is faster if the tree is getting adequate amounts of fertilizer and water. You won’t get it to heal faster by giving it excessive amounts of water and fertilizer.

This purple leaf plum had borer damage, heavy, in a major limb facing the sun. That limb died but the tree is still alive. To get it to heal fast, make sure it has adequate water, remove weeds (and grass) growing near it and fertilize twice a year (half in the spring and half in the fall). Make it healthy and encourage it to heal.

            Take a sharp, sanitized knife and remove all loose bark down to fresh wood. Remove all the loose bark and slightly cut into the living wood surrounding this dead area. You will not harm the tree by cutting into the living wood if the knife is sanitized and it will heal faster.

Borer damaged areas are "skinned down" to living wood with a sharp, sanitized knife and then let it heal. 

            Sanitizing the knife, just like the surgeon’s scalpel, will keep serious disease problems from entering the tree that might slow down the healing or worsen the tree. The tree will heal quickly if it is healthy. But this knife must be sanitized with alcohol or a good household sanitizer before cutting away at it.

            It is possible that apricot, unlike many peach and nectarine, will sucker or show new growth below this damaged area. If the limb must be removed, select a sucker growing in a good direction to fill the vacancy left by removing the limb. If the limb remains, remove the suckers and let the wound heal.