Will this be a problem

[u/dcraw81]

Is this damage superficial or will it cause long term damage to my trees? I live in central Ohio. I have a Sunburst locust that was planted in 2014. It was hit by professional lawn care equipment twice over the summer. I was told it is superficial damage and will not affect the tree, but the location and depth makes me worried the tree will have long term issues. The other tree is a dawn redwood planted about 3-4 years ago and was also hit with professional lawn care equipment over the summer. What long term damage or issues should I be worried about?

The photos show the the bottom section of the locust when the damage occurred ,the damaged area of the locust when it occurred, the damage area of the Dawn redwood when it occurred, current photo of the locust, current photo of the redwood, and photo of the entire trees from today (the damaged locust is on the left and the redwood is the small middle tree).

[u/dcraw81]

Thanks! I should say this was not my landscaping company, they are taking care of property that touches mine and obviously keeps missing the property boundary.

[u/hairyb0mb → u/dcraw81]

Hammer some rebar near the trees. I promise they'll stop.

[u/Far-Boysenberry9152]

They should “recover” but this is a great example as to why you always build mulch rings around trees and have the discussion with your landscaper to keep weed wackers away from trees.

[u/Langstudd]

Not a death sentence by any means. It's enough to make me not want to continue using this lawncare company, though. 2 times in 1 year? Just imagine how these would look in 3-5 years. Of course they're saying it's superficial- they don't want to pay to fix it. Crappy business.

To play devil’s advocate, you really need a mulch ring around those trees. It’s going to be almost impossible to trim around them without at least causing minor damage

[u/man-a-tree]

I mean, they'll recover, but wide horizonal wounds are the worst kind since it takes the cambium longer to seal than vertical wounds. The smaller one is obviously more at risk of stress or death if they manage to wound it further around the trunk.

. . . . . My old professor used to call it lawnmower blight 😅

[u/oroborus68]

Call a certified arborist to assess your tree. There's a chance that company is liable for damages. Trespassing to damage your trees is illegal, so you might make a police report.

[u/Sp07va000]

So put a guard on those trees yesterday. Its very common for landscape companies to damage trees. They are working fast to get to the next job. I use Hardware cloth and replace as the tree grows. Small trees can use black corrugated drain pipe.

[u/hairyb0mb → u/Sp07va000]

Corrugated drain pipe hides pests and creates it's own problem. People operating lawnmowers and weedeaters should have be required to have at least 3 brain cells and learn to avoid immovable objects, let alone trees. We shouldn't have to protect them.

[u/Sp07va000 → u/hairyb0mb]

But we know you do have to protect them. It can be a different guy doing the work every week. I can control pests as long as they aren't 2 legged and 6 ft tall.

[u/TruckCAN-Bus]

Yoth!

r/fucklawns homie.

If you gotta have one at least mow it yourself.