Here’s the trunk of a Japanese maple I photographed last month at a big box store in Seattle:
Why does the trunk look like this? Answers and more photos on Monday!
Trunk teaser
Published by
Linda Chalker-Scott
Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist. She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture, and holds two affiliate associate professor positions at University of Washington. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. Linda also is the award-winning author of five books: the horticultural myth-busting The Informed Gardener (2008) and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (2010) from the University of Washington Press and Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: Good Science – Practical Application (2009) from GFG Publishing, Inc., and How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do from Timber Press (2015). Her latest effort is an update of Art Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019). In 2018 Linda was featured in a video series – The Science of Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda’s contribution to gardeners was recognized in 2017 by the Association for Garden Communicators as the first recipient of their Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award. "The Garden Professors" Facebook page - www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors "The Garden Professors" Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com View all posts by Linda Chalker-Scott
Looks to me like the trunk incorporated something long and skinny (a tag? a support? a wire or bit of fencing?) diagonally across it.
Along planting oaks comment, maybe a staking wire left on a bit too long? Or winter sun causing the bark to split?
It tapers the wrong way…. perhaps some constricting wire or string around the root collar?
my first thought was winter sun causing bark to split, but perhaps a funky graft union?
Total guess, damage from being picked up by the trunk when young?
Definitely looks as if the trunk has been pressed or constricted in some way. Are two trunks fused together?
I’ll say it’s a graft or bud gone wrong.
I’m with Nancy – looks like two trunks fused together.