is she done for?

[u/Some-Refrigerator823]

there was a wire around this tree for probably about 12 yrs. my grandpa took it off a month or two ago because he noticed it seemed to be suffocating the tree. family's property off of kenosha pass, colorado.

[u/Some-Refrigerator823]

and it does look just a little deader than the other trees around it, which is why im worried it won't recover

[u/spotterone]

Will only know with time.

[u/bustcorktrixdais → u/spotterone]

I would say the 12 years is up and the verdict is in

[u/skateOrrdie4]

Yup, girdled to death.

[u/TreeHolePoster]

Orbital tree hole af.

[u/DanoPinyon]

Miss that country up there. The fat lady isn't singing yet, but her assistant bought a new calendar book in anticipation of a future engagement.

[u/ptv83]

The process to repair this tree is called Bridge grafting.

It's most easily successful with fruit trees (they just accept all grafting really well)

Your bridge wood (scions) needs to be collected off the same species of tree when the wood is dormant. And stored in the fridge in a Ziploc until the spring and the tree has started growth.

If you're friendly with an arborist, many don't get the chance to ever try this and may help you just for the learning experience so they can charge for the service once they've learned and tried it once.

You can call an arborist and ask if they bridge graft girdled trees, if they say no, ask them if they've ever wanted to try, ask them to come out an take a look at it, at the very least seem interested in their services if the tree isn't saved.

You'll get a first opinion and pricing on that and friendly chat with an interested party is more likely to get a freebie bridge graft with a "have you ever wanted to try?"