Black Knot Disease   Does your tree or your neighbors tree look like this.  Click on the link to learn more.

DAMAGE BY RABBITS, MICE OR VOLES

Unfortunately rabbits and mice or voles have not enjoyed the prolonged snow and are looking for food. They have been busy on the nursery and in homeowner yards, eating the bark on the trees.  If your tree looks like this, and is eaten around the entire trunk, it may not survive.  The bark and transplant tissue (phloem) which carries the nutrients from the leaves to the roots have been damaged.    One method that may save your tree is by applying Lac Balsam to the area.  It works like a rubber skin and seals the cambium on the tree so the nutrients can flow again.  For $12.95 for a 150 gr. tube, it is well worth trying out.