<P> Girdling, also called ring - barking is the complete removal of a strip of bark (consisting of cork cambium or "phellogen", phloem, cambium and sometimes going into the xylem) from around the entire circumference of either a branch or trunk of a woody plant . Girdling results in the death of the area above the girdle over time . A branch completely girdled will fail and when the main trunk of a tree is girdled, the entire tree will die, if it cannot regrow from above to bridge the wound . Among the causes of girdling are human practices, including forestry, horticulture, and vandalism . Foresters use the practice of girdling to thin forests . Girdling can also be caused by herbivorous mammals feeding on plant bark and by birds and insects, both of which can effectively girdle a tree by boring rows of adjacent holes . </P> <P> Orchardists use girdling as a cultural technique to yield larger fruit or set fruit, often called cincturing used in agriculture . Only the layer just under the bark is removed for this technique . </P>

What does it mean to girdle a tree