Bark damage to tree

[anappleadaykeeps]

My autistic 13 year old has damaged the bark on our 'main tree' in our garden. He is really upset about it now, but didn't think it was a problem when he was doing it at the time.

I'm also really upset - I love this tree, and don't want it to die. I'll add some photos shortly, but can anyone could advise on what I should do to try to protect it?

We are all self isolating due to 11 year old fever, so can't get someone around to look at it in person. There are some black ants crawling up and down the tree but that is all I can see pest-wise.

Photos to follow.

Close up of damage

And some picture of the tree overall

It's not damaged enough to kill the tree so I wouldn't worry.

That's a beautiful tree. It's quite safe, thankfully, that damage is not life threatening.

Thankfully he hasn't ring-barked the main trunk, which would have killed it. If you have any vaseline, then smear that on the damaged areas. That will help prevent diseases getting in.

The ants are only going up and down to take care of their aphid colonies in the tree.

I'm not sure I'd do the vaseline bit. Advice is moving on from saying you should seal cuts to branches to saying it's better to leave them open, less chance of anything nasty being "sealed in".