Question: We have just discovered that our shade tree has a wire wrapped around its trunk near the ground, probably from an old nursery tag. Now the base of the tree is swollen above the wire, and we can’t get the wire out. The tree seems weaker than before. What can we do to help?

Answer: The wire, no matter how fine, has girdled the internal tissues of the trunk, cutting off the movement of manufactured sugars down to the roots through the phloem cells. Until you cut through the wire and allow the phloem to regrow, there will be no way that the tree can survive. If you can make a few cuts straight into the trunk and pull as much of the wire as possible out of the wound, that could very likely help.