Fill hole in apple tree trunk?

[Mattemma]

Do I fill the hole with foam filler spray or wood filler?Maybe cement? It is a fairly deep hole.Suprised the tree is still alive.Did not see any ant activity,but I do have a lot of carpenter ants in the yard I am working on.

The tree is old and overgrown.Needs pruning,but to tall for me to do even with a ladder.Does still produce apples of average quality.

 

[vfem]

I do not suggest filling it. It may give way to rot though... it seems more like a natural sore, meaning it may already have an infection. Filling it, will not stop or slow an infection in a sore.

 

[patandchickens]

Is this a "cuplike" upward-facing hole in a crotch, or is it a hole in the side of the trunk or of a branch?

AFAIK there are some reasonable arguments for using expando-foam or suchlike to fill upward-facing holes that otherwise become little ponds whenever it rains, but I do not believe that it is generally recommended to use filler in any other kind of holes or defects (?).

If you are very attached to the tree, it might be well worth your while to have an arborist come out and give it an eyeball (at least up here, they generally do free estimates...) and see if it does or doesn't need something doing, and if so then what.

GOod luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[journey11]

Ants and such will move in and gradually make it deeper. If rain pools in it, it will continue to rot away. But I have found that with apple trees it is a slow death, and they will continue bearing and live many years even if hollowed out. The wound makes it more vulnerable to bug damage and disease. There's really no repairing it. Filling it won't hurt anything, but it probably won't help either. I'd just keep enjoying it while it lasts and go ahead and plant a replacement that can in the meantime be maturing, because eventually you're going to lose the tree.

 

[Mattemma]

It is a big hole at the bottom of the trunk.Probably gets rain in it.I think there were some ants around.I guess I will leave it.I do have some other seedling trees growing,and will properly tend to those.Will leave the old tree for the animals.

There was a big cherry tree full of ants when we moved in.Chopped that down.I think the ants around here(carpenter) find a weakness in a tree(or house) and get to work on them.



Thanks for the posts!