North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

The rabbits really chewed up my little Pink Lady apple tree over the 
winter. We got a LOT more snow than usual, and my protections weren't 
sufficient this year.

I'd wrapped the trunk, so that's OK. But it's a small tree, with 
branches close to the ground, and they completely stripped the bark from 
most of them. Luckily, there are some branches near the top of the tree 
that haven't been touched.

There are also two branches, just below that area, which have the bark 
stripped everywhere but for a very thin line on the top of the branch. 
Note that the bark is stripped for a good foot or two near the trunk, so 
it's not just a small area. But there appears to be a thin line - a very 
thin line - along the upper side of the branch that's untouched.

Should I prune off these branches anyway? Are they too badly damaged to 
survive? Or is that thin connection with the trunk enough that they 
could recover from this?

Note that this tree had a couple of small spots of fireblight last year, 
which I had to remove. I don't know if all this bark damage would be 
susceptible to fireblight or not, but I thought I'd better mention it.

Thanks,

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

http://garthright.blogspot.com/

--
Alas, to wear the mantle of Galileo it is not enough that you be 
persecuted by an unkind establishment, you must also be right. - Robert 
L. Park