Eastern Red Cedar with large bark split

[Louisiana Treebeard]

I'm new to this site, so thanks in advance for any assistance. We recently bought an older house that only has pine trees and two beautiful eastern red cedar trees. One of the cedar trees has a large bark injury the length of the lower trunk, probably 7'. The exposed wood isn't soft but there is some resurrection fern growing in the area. The tree itself is about 20' tall. Anything I can do to save it or extend the life?

 

[TNTreeHugger]

That tree looks great to me... especially with the fern and lichen.
Potentially many years of life left in it.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Here's one in my yard. Idk how old it is but it's looked like this for at least the 30 years I've been here.
Idk what's holing it up, but it still has a nice green crown.

 

[jblnut]

Wrap with plastic and fill with concrete.

Just kidding !! I have a dozen cedar trees that look waaaay worse than that and they haven’t gone anywhere in the 14yrs I’ve known them.

 

[Louisiana Treebeard]

Here's one in my yard. Idk how old it is but it's looked like this for at least the 30 years I've been here.
Idk what's holing it up, but it still has a nice green crown.
View attachment 1145089View attachment 1145090View attachment 1145091

They look very similar. It has a mate nearby, it's more full and taller. Hope the tree keeps going, it's beautiful. Thanks for the pictures!

 

[Louisiana Treebeard]

Wrap with plastic and fill with concrete.

Just kidding !! I have a dozen cedar trees that look waaaay worse than that and they haven’t gone anywhere in the 14yrs I’ve known them.

Great! Thanks for the good news. Must be a cedar tree thing.

 

[pdqdl]

Not really. They are rather hardy, however, and quite resistant to decay. When any tree becomes damaged to the extent shown in the pictures in this thread, there is not much remediation that can be done.

Just try to avoid making any additional injuries.