AusBonsai

Just after a little advice
I got myself a little corky bark seedling a year and a half ago have just been growing it in a pot since.
I decided to actually do some work on it today and while repotting it discovered it was to low in the pot and all the corky back on the lower trunk has been sitting it moist soil for over a year has gotten soft and flaked away.
So I now have a thick beautiful bark that starts ½ an inch up the trunk
Talk about reverse taper. After discovering this I have covered it up with a rock for now. My question is, will this lower bark develop again and will it ever catch up to the bark above it?
Would it be better to strip the entire tree of the cork and start from scratch?
Would it actually grow back if I did this?
Is there other options?

sorry to say mate but that looks like its just the inner wood with no bark or cambian. are you sure its still alive? it can be hard to tell with deciduous at this time of year if there dead or not, but try scratching a small bit of the cambian higher up the tree and see if it still green.
Well i hope its still alive for you but from your pic i have my doubts.

Hugh

Not sure either, weather it alive or not. If it is and there is a good chance, I would put it in the ground or a grow box to thicken the trunk, if anything will work its this.
As it grows rapidly it should shead the old bark as it produces the new.
You have nothing to loose.
Mick

I agree, scratch the bark and see if the top is still alive. Then scratch around the thin bit, and see if it has rotted there or not. You might get away with ring-barking it higher up the trunk, and trying to layer the top off, if there are still signs of life.

Gavin

Its definatly alive, the tops covered is little green buds at the moment.

I've had this problem with corky barked sheoaks. The bottom bark will take a long time to catch up, sometimes years, because they don't shed their bark. The only way to fix it may be to rub it mostly off and start again like you suggest. They don't mind their bark being taken off as long as you don't go too far and touch the cambium.
Lucky it is a young tree so it is not a great set-back.

check the area where the bark has rotted with scratch test to see whether there is cambuim there. Scratch test on the top part will not tell you. As others have said it does not look good there.
The top of the tree will stay green for up to a year and can even grow new leaves, even if the bark and cambium is gone below - it still gets water to sustain it through the trunk but can't send food back to the roots and top will eventually die.

If cambium and inner bark is still intact at the rotted part it will be ok. Some of mine had this happen but with older, corky bark. I rubbed off the corky bark above and the new cork developed better than before. Your tree is very young and has not developed corky bark yet (if it is corky bark elm - many different varieties that look similar when young)

This tree is an elm so even if it has killed the cambuim it will probably shoot buds from the live base and/or roots so you can start again.
Good luck

thats great if its still alive, but shibui has a good point so try and really see what is going on with this tree to know exactly what's going on otherwise you might just surprisingly lose your tree at any time.

Hugh