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I have recently moved into the house in southern Ontario, Canada, where in the backyard is this large maple tree. It believe it's a silver maple, though not sure. I was pruning some branches the other day and observed this large split in the bark, facing south direction. From reading around it seems like it's called sunscald. While I have found information about prventing sunscald, I haven't found much information about what to do afterwords. The damage might be quite old, I have no idea. This large exposed area looks susceptible to disease and insects. I can already see tiny holes in the exposed wood as if made by insects.

The tree looks healthy thus far and I would like to know if I can help it any way stay that way.

Should I be covering up this area in the winter? Also, should anything be done to prevent disease/insects from harming it? enter image description here

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kevinskio
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Ashar
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    Dubious that the original cause was sunscald. More likely physical damage. In any case, letting the tree heal itself is the best thing you can do - there's dead wood there, insects may well get into it, but "tree wound dressing" is debunked snake-oil in established science. – Ecnerwal Aug 16 '22 at 12:53

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That wound is healing very well. You can tell by that smooth bark forming on either side of the opening. Leave it alone and it will complete the healing process. I would be relieved to see this type of progress on a tree in my yard.

Evil Elf
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