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In an over-enthusiastic bout of strimming my OH managed to strip a piece of bark off my lemon tree. In fact it's hardly large enough to be called a tree more of a lemon shrub really. The bare bit is about an inch wide and round the entire circumference of the trunk. Is this going to do it any harm and if so is there anything I can do?

um, I think he killed it! My understanding is that the bark is the living layer, if the cut truly goes round the whole of the trunk, then there is no way for anything the tree needs to survive to been transported from the roots up. Perhaps you can graft the surviving bit or part of it onto another citrus tree (I've seen amazing trees with oranges growing on one side and lemons on the other), though this sounds like more hassle than its worth in the this case.

Make him buy you a new one and extract a promise from him to be more careful next time.

Sorry Graye
What you describe is called ring barking. Removing an entire circle of bark kills the tree by stopping the nutrients rising to the growing top.

A neighbour did this to one of my trees (before I moved in), he told me he'd done it. However when the tree became dangerous i.e. dead, and he realised his garage was in imminent danger, he suddenly denied all knowledge of it. You probably din't want to know any of that but I seem to be on the rampage today. Shouldn't read threads about religion huh?

Sounds a typical tale!

Yes I suspected he may have done dire damages from the way he immediately offered to buy me a new one.

I've been having a good look online and see I could try cutting thin strips of bark and making a sort of bridge to join the two sections together. I'll give that a go as I have apparently got nothing to lose. It's such a pity because it was an expensive little tree my mother bought in the UK. It didn't thrive there and had just begun to really do well here in France.

It amuses me that my garden is a bit of a United Nations with plants and trees brought back from various places. It's amazing what can adapt to different climates. I have several custard apple trees (from southern Spain) which I suspect are not at all common in the Dordogne also a big patch of bluebells grown from seed from our garden in North Yorkshire.

You might be able to save it by covering the bare part with a thick layer of rich, moist soil. Some plants will sprout new roots in the spot where the bark was stripped. But, that's a long shot.

You might also be able to take cuttings of the branches and sprout those into new trees. Or even graft a cutting of the tree to itself by attaching it below where the bark was stripped.

I'd suggest putting a wide layer of mulch around your trees, to prevent anyone from having a reason to strim so close to the trunk.

Thanks for that idea. I've done the thing with a thin strip of bark from higher on the trunk - tied it and waxed it and also now piled up some compost. I've probably done the best I can for it. I'll wait and see what happens next.

Hi Graye

What type of soil do you have in your neck of the woods as I have tried on 4 occasions to grow English bluebells in the woods around the house with no success.I thought maybe my soil was wrong so planted them out in a neutral compost, and lost them again, the last time I tried I used an acid compost with the same result; The ph here is 7, or do you think bluebells are allergic to me.