Purple Riversi Beech peeling bark, antholes - what to do

[cpiercew]

Hey folks, hoping for a save for one of my favorite trees, a purple riversi beech. Some background: I planted it two years ago and it seemed to do really well. Soon after I planted it I noticed the nursery had inflicted an injury I didn't notice until after it was delivered. The trunk was strapped tight with rope and burlap for too long. I lost the debate with the nursery over replacement so I decided to just take very good care of it. It was fine until I noticed this spring (unusually warm) bark was starting to peel from the base of the trunk.

Doing some research I was told to use a knife to remove the effected bark until I saw healthy bark (green). I started and it didn't look good. I noticed recently (about a week after the original discovery) a few small holes develop with what look like ants inside.

Any advice is appreciated, it is budding out now as you can see.

Thanks in advance !

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[cpiercew]

Leafing Buds

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[Loraxguy]

Oh What to do?

Nothing-just keep up what your doing and let the tree do the rest-

 

[Ruster22]

With this much damage:

...even if you find a solution to what looks like an insect problem and continue helping the tree heal as you are, the tree will be displeasing to look at for along time if not it's entire life.

I would cut my loses, carefully inspect the next tree, and replace it.

Good luck!

Ru