I have a volunteer seedling tree that I have experimented on now and again.
It has looked terrible for a year or so, but my question is specifically about what appear to be scratch marks on the trunk, about 3 feet from the ground.
I would assume that it's some kind of physical damage, but don't know what would cause this.
The foliage looks bad in more ways than I can count.
Can insects or disease cause the scratch marks? Or should I assume that the neighborhood cats have settled on this tree as their scratching post?