Elm tree cracked

I need some advice. This is an 8 year old princton american elm. Found this crack in part of the trunk. Should I cut this whole section out or just one of the limbs?

Here is another view.

I should have pruned that section out when I first planted it.

john giroux wrote:I should have pruned that section out when I first planted it.

Probably. On the other hand, elm is known for growing like this, and is incredible twisted and hard to split*. I expect that crack to outlast most pine or birch trees nearby that look perfect right now.

* - seriously, I had some 8 inch diameter elm that a 24 ton splitter was unable to split.

You could cable together the separating limbs if you would like peace of mind.

The first photo doesn't show it well. But there is a half inch crack already that you can see thru. If it wasn't damaged already I might consider the cable.

You can use a through bolt. Maybe a half inch bolt with decent size washers. Use the bolt to draw it together as much as possible and let the tree heal the wound. Anyone who decides to cut it down will have a rude awakening if they hit it though.

I'll vote for the through-bolt....

Have a piece of firewood in the shop now, just barely exposing a brown ceramic electric fence insulator, eaten up by the oak tree many years ago. I'm trying to figure out how to make it into a paperweight, with the insulator exposed....

A big wind storm broke that limb off. So should I take the other part off too?