Hi Paula,

I'm sorry to hear about your tree!  The wound looks characteristic of winter sunburn injury; subsequent drying of the tissue results in the cracking that you can see.  

A wound of this size is not great for the future prognosis of this tree, which tend to be on the short-lived side to begin with.  It may persist for some time yet, though--the living tissue on the other side of the trunk will still supply the canopy with water and nutrients.  Continue to wrap the tree in the winter (between Halloween and tax day, more or less) and be sure to provide water if you are able to.  Watering will reduce the stress on the tree.  Since the tree is relatively young, you might also consider replacing it, or starting a nearby replacement, being sure to wrap the trunk in the winter to try to help prevent the same type of injury from occurring again.

How large were the ants?  Carpenter ants would be the only concerning ant inhabitant that I can think of, as they consume dead wood and would weaken the trunk of the tree further.

I hope this is helpful.

Cordially,

John

Hi Paula,

A pretty good body of research indicates that it's best to leave wounds like that open--wound treatments do more to seal bad things in than to keep them out, and the dryness will help the dead tissue to last longer before decomposing.

Cordially,

John