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Is this rope strangling our tree?

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My boyfriend has this tree in his front yard. Apparently the previous owners kept a dog tied to the tree and didn't remove the rope. The tree has started to grow around the rope and he's worried the rope will strangle the young tree. Me knowing nothing about trees really, I didn't know what to tell him. Should we leave the rope where it is or try to remove it? and if we remove it, should we seal it with that wax like stuff they use for grafting?

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I think you should remove it. It looks like it is damaging the tree. In your second picture, its cutting right into the bark, as the tree grows it will cut deaper and deaper in there untill the tree dies. I think you should remove it now.
Dino
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I agree. Remove and seal. Looks like what society forced women into in the 19th century, resulting in a lot of fainting. It's worse than a corset!
 
I wouldn't worry much about it. I have a maple tree that grew threw the fencing of our dog kennel. The space in this fence was about 3in. The dtree though has a diameter of about 10 inches. I even cut that trunk of the tree off and new offshoots are popping off it. The tree would most likely adapt and grow around the rope. However if you don't like how it looks just remove the rope no big deal.
 
Why is there a rope around the tree... doesn't look like it even has a length of rope to be used.
 
I also had a tree that was growing around a rope.  It was a different kind of tree, but it didn't seem to be bothered by the rope.  You can easily cut off the "tail" of the rope for cosmetic purposes, but you may have difficulty cutting off the part that is actually around the tree because the tree seems to already be growing into the spaces between the strands of the rope.
 
5Remove that rope, it will kill that tree! As it grows, the rope will cut deaper and deaper into the tree, untill it drops dead! Cut cut cut!
 
you can cut it, but i would leave it alone. the rope will NOT cut deeper and deeper into the tree because that's impossible, as the rope would have to become smaller and smaller in diameter to "cut" the tree. the tree will grow around the rope. it will not kill the tree and removing it would be just another hassle.
 
Actualy it will strangle the tree because its only the last few inches of tree thats actualy alive and it will cut through this and kill it because it will no longer get any water or minerals from its roots. So although it will not cut you`r tree down it will kill your tree if left unatended.
 
  • #10
No it will not damage the tree what-so-ever. The tree with age will totally consume the rope and seal back over the outside of the rope and no-one will ever tell the difference. Trees do this frequently with branches. So long as the rope is not toxic (which I doubt it would be) it will continue on with life just the same. Trees do this to fencing all the time as well and the galvinizing doesn't even bother them , they still grow and seal around it.

Joe
 
  • #11
i agree,
haven't you ever heard of the mapple/pine trees ?
when they grow so close together they eventualy join,
it's common for two trees of the same species to ( join) in that fashon , altho the diffrent ssp of trees can do it aswell , my addvice is just to go down to a garden center Bonni and ask the Gardener in charge for some addvice you are in a diffrent part of the county than alot of other people alaska right ?

i know when i lived in Washington we had two Ceder trees that did that they werre over a century old tho , so that does play a part .

and like trees get all of the water from the roots through the bark to the branches if you cut down a tree and see " rings " those rings are dead cambrium layers , think of it like your makeing a rose bush graft , you have to peirce the cambrium just enough not to the center were you have "wood that is dead" but to that liveing layer of live bark that supplys the nutrients to the bud that will be come the grafted fineshed product.

pine trees swell removeing old bark , reveiling new young bark every year.
 
  • #12
And what if the tree gets bigger and bigger?
I would cut that rope now.
 
  • #13
i agree with starman as the trunck gets bigger the rope would get to the sensitive part of it and kill it better safe than strangled
 
  • #14
If this is a tree you want to keep long term, I would cut the rope. You do not have to remove it; just cut it to relive the pressure. If left alone, the tree may grow right around it, but this also has the potential to weaken the tree. Trees do grow around things like fence all the time, as others have mentioned, but in this case, the rope is girdling the entire trunk. I have done this on purpose with bonsai when I want to thicken the taper of a trunk, but the wire is always removed after 1-3 years. If you cut the rope in one spot and just leave it there the tree will slowly grow around it without any trouble, if you don’t cut it, you may jeopardize the tree.

Also, you don’t want to use any sealer on tree wounds. These sealers actually hold moister in and can cause rot. A tree will naturally seal off wounds or cut branches. New growth will cover these areas much quicker with out the black tar or paint.
 
  • #15
Well, glad everyone agrees on the same course of action, LOL!!!
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  • #16
I agree. this rope will girdle the tree, killing the cambium layer and severing the xylum and floam, after wich the tree dies rapidly.
 
  • #17
[b said:
Quote[/b] (The Griffin @ Aug. 27 2004,12:56)]Well, glad everyone agrees on the same course of action, LOL!!!    
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LOL CUT CUT CUT THE ROPE!!! lol
 
  • #18
Cut it, don't cut it doesn't matter. Again I had a maple tree grow through the chainlink fencing of our dog kennel. The fence had gaps about 3 inches wide. The tree is now about a foot wide and still growing healthy. (Even though I have tried to kill it on multipl occasions with a machete, and I have even cutt he trunk on the inside of the kennel down twice and it continues to grow... I'll have to post pics.
 
  • #19
What are you guys talking about... it WILL adapt, the trunk will just "curve" around the rope, until it consumes it. DO NOT cut this rope! There is no bark behind the rope, and you would just open the most fragile "arteries" to all kinds of pathogens and bacteria. Do not cut it... My neighbors had a wire rope thing for their dog, and over 6 years the tree grew right around it and it was just fine...
 
  • #20
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Spectabilis73 @ Sep. 02 2004,1:08)]What are you guys talking about... it WILL adapt, the trunk will just "curve" around the rope, until it consumes it. DO NOT cut this rope! There is no bark behind the rope, and you would just open the most fragile "arteries" to all kinds of pathogens and bacteria. Do not cut it... My neighbors had a wire rope thing for their dog, and over 6 years the tree grew right around it and it was just fine...
Youre wrong. Someone tied a rope round a tree in Bosnia when I was 4, buy the time I was 7 the rope completely cut into the trunk and the tree died.
UI would suggest cutting this rope, better safe then sorry, this rpe will severly damage the tree if you leave it, it will cut into it as the tree grows and the tree will die.
 
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