Bark Peeling or Cracking on Your Tree: What It Means

Bark coming off a tree is one of the most common reasons people call us worried, and the honest answer ranges from "that is what this species does" to "that tree is dead on that side." The difference is in where the bark is coming off, what is underneath it, and whether the tree is growing new bark to replace it.

Here is how we sort it out on a site visit in Edgewater or anywhere else in Volusia County.

Bark that is supposed to come off

Several common trees shed bark as a normal part of growth:

• Crepe myrtle peels in thin sheets every summer, exposing smooth mottled bark underneath. That is the ornamental feature, not a problem.
• Sycamore sheds in patches, leaving a camouflage pattern of white, green and tan.
• River birch peels in curling papery layers.
• Eucalyptus and some gum species shed long strips.
• Palms drop old leaf bases (boots) from the trunk, which can look like peeling.

On these trees, look at what is under the shed bark. If it is smooth, firm, live bark, the tree is fine.

Bark loss that is a symptom

Sunscald

When a tree that was shaded suddenly gets full sun on its trunk, typically after neighboring trees are removed or after heavy pruning, the bark on the south and west side can overheat, die and split. The dead patch cracks and eventually sloughs off, exposing wood. This is common on thin-barked trees like maple and young oaks, and it is a real wound that invites decay. The tree can wall it off if the patch is small; a large sunscald strip can be the start of a slow decline.

The lesson, which we repeat often, is not to remove so much canopy at once that the trunk is suddenly exposed. Our post on lion's tailing and over-pruning covers that mistake.

Frost cracks

After a hard freeze, a vertical split can open on the trunk. These often close in summer and reopen in the next cold snap. They are usually not fatal, but they are permanent weak points.

Bark falling off a dead section

If bark is loose and lifts away in slabs, and the wood underneath is dry, gray, cracked or riddled with insect galleries, that part of the tree is dead. Sapwood that is alive is moist and cream-colored. Dead wood does not hold bark; it sloughs. On a pine, bark falling off in plates from the upper trunk almost always means beetles have already killed it, as we described in Southern Pine Beetle and Ips.

Lightning

A lightning strike frequently blows a strip of bark off the trunk from the top down, sometimes in a spiral. See Your Tree Got Struck by Lightning for what that means.

Cankers

A canker is a localized area of dead bark caused by a fungus or bacterium. Cankers are sunken, sometimes oozing, often with a raised callus edge where the tree is trying to grow around them. A few small cankers on a big tree are manageable. A canker that girdles most of a stem will kill everything above it.

Mechanical damage

Mower and string trimmer wounds at the base, vehicle strikes, and rubbing from a neighboring limb all strip bark. The base wounds matter most because they are at the root collar, the part of the tree least able to compartmentalize decay.

Cracks with no bark loss

A crack in the trunk or in a major limb, particularly one that runs along the grain and has a raised lip of callus on either side, is a structural issue rather than a health issue. The tree may be perfectly healthy and still be splitting apart. Cracks at codominant unions are the classic case. Have those looked at before hurricane season, not after.

How much bark loss can a tree survive?

The rough rule is that a tree can lose bark on a portion of its circumference and survive, because the live tissue on the remaining sides keeps the roots and crown connected. Once bark is lost most of the way around, the tree is girdled and will die above that point, even if it leafs out one more time. The width of the wound, the health of the tree and the species all factor in, and this is where a site assessment beats a guess. Our tree risk assessment post lays out what we check.

What not to do

• Do not paint the wound. Wound dressings do not help and can trap moisture.
• Do not peel loose bark back further to "clean it up." Cut only clearly dead, loose bark at the edges with a clean tool if it is trapping water.
• Do not fill cavities with concrete or foam.

Frequently asked questions

My oak is losing bark on one side but the crown looks fine. Is it dying?

Not necessarily. One-sided bark loss with a healthy crown is often sunscald, mechanical damage or a canker. The question is whether the wood underneath is sound and whether callus is forming at the edges. Callus growing inward means the tree is closing it.

Should I wrap the trunk?

Trunk wrap on newly planted thin-barked trees can reduce sunscald for the first year. On a mature tree, wrapping does nothing useful and holds moisture against the bark.

Is peeling bark on a palm a problem?

Old leaf bases coming off the trunk is normal. Bark-like tissue splitting on a palm trunk can indicate a growth issue or trunk rot, especially if the trunk is narrowing or soft. Have it looked at if the trunk sounds hollow.

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ArboristRX assesses tree health and structure across Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach, Port Orange, Oak Hill and Volusia County. Call (386) 444-5959 or use our contact page.