Is my tree going to die?

[Aaron in MT]

This last winter in Montana was brutally long and cold. We are officially a zone 4a. The owner of our local nursery told me that this winter was closer to a zone 2.

Today I walked outside and noticed these long cracks on our beautiful tree. The cracks run several feet from the base up the branches. They are on multiple sides. It almost looks like the tree is now leaning at more of an angle.

The tree is about 4" in diameter, and is probably about 10 years old.

Is it terminal? Can the tree recover from this?

 

[oneeye]

I bet that split is on the sunny side of the tree. When some trees get frost or freeze and then the sun hits the frozen bark it cracks the bark. Your tree is planted too deep in the soil and has a choke hold on the water transpiration. Dig out the extra mulch and expose the root flair so the plant can exchange gases and moisture.

Can you save a tree with split bark?
Splits and sunscald are usually not fatal, although they may allow the entry of insects or disease. The tree will normally heal by itself through growth of the living inner bark on the sides of the split. Google

 

[Aaron in MT]

I will dig the mulch down to expose the root flair. Is there anything else I can do to help or prevent this in the future?