Is a long vertical split opened up in my trunk over the winter an emergency?
Not urgent. This is a split in the wood itself, not just the bark, running from the outside toward the center. For the tree it means the outer wood is now open to air and water, and it will respond by walling the injury off and growing over it. Most trees live with a frost crack indefinitely and a healthy one closes it and carries on. The lasting significance is that the crack is a permanent line of weakness and a doorway for decay, so a trunk with one is a trunk you monitor rather than a trunk you fix.
What changes while you wait
Years to decades, and frequently never. Watch depth, not length: a crack closing over each summer with a thickening rib is winning, while one whose edges stay open, stay dark, and turn soft or punky is losing ground to decay. Tapping the trunk with a mallet and hearing a hollow tone beside the crack means the decay column is wide. It becomes a genuine hazard only when decay has eaten enough cross-section that the trunk cannot carry a wind load, and by that stage you will also be seeing crown thinning and conks near the base.
Related
- A long vertical split opened up in my trunk over the winter — what should I do?→
- Can a long vertical split opened up in my trunk over the winter be fixed without removing the tree?→
- What causes a long vertical split opened up in my trunk over the winter?→
- How long can I leave a long vertical split opened up in my trunk over the winter before it becomes dangerous?→
- How much does it cost to deal with a long vertical split opened up in my trunk over the winter?→
- The bark is falling off my tree — what should I do?→
- Is the bark is falling off my tree an emergency?→
- Can the bark is falling off my tree be fixed without removing the tree?→