Help...got too close with my weed whacker

OK I know it was a bad idea, but I was trimming around the yard and got too close with the weed whacker and hit a fruit tree. It didn't zap it all the way around the trunk, but it gouged a nice size chunk of the bark off of one side. This is a fruit tree I planted this year. What do I do now? Should I spray it with something, like Lysol as a disinfectant? Will it kill my tree? Should've known better...I know.

I would NOT spray it with Lysol. I would assume you could protect the area with paint. I think you want to use latex not oil based Of course grafting wax would be the best and I have read that if you have no grafting wax when grafting you can us vaseline.
RED

My view is nature is best left alone in this case -- it will heal itself fine. I have had this happen too many times; it convinced me to mulch at least 2' from each stem.

Scott

I use a row of mulch little outside of the drip line and leave the area to the tree as dirt. A little round up takes care of weeds that pop up or I just pull them up.

Thanks. I read the Lysol tip on the internet and it didn't quite seem right to me, but since I'm new to all this, I thought anything could be possible. We're in the process of mulching all the trees, so hopefully weeds won't pop up any more. Does anyone mulch with rocks instead of traditional mulch? I read somewhere that bark mulch encourages mice to live in there in the winter, and this obviously could be a problem. Any advice? Thanks

You don't want to put mulch right up against your fruit trees. At least not where I live. It invites all sorts of fungual problems. You could use rocks but that might turn out to be a big hassle if you get weeds growing all through it.

I have had rabbits eat the bark off an intire side of young trees before I got wire up to protect them. About half of the trunk will be exposed to bare wood as high as a rabbit can reach. I just left them alone and they healed. The new bark eventually rewrapped itself all the way around the trunk. I would think paint or anything else would interfer with the bark recovering the bare exposed wood. Anyhow thats my opinion.

What mulch works is dependent on where you live. For me bark mulch is excellent, right up to the tree. For people with vole problems they prefer rocks.

Scott