The most common damage to trees, except those caused by diseases and pests, include any mechanical damage, as a result of which the tree tissue opens in various places. These places are always at risk of secondary damage by fungi, bacteria and various insects. Open wound infection, depending on its character and external conditions, it may proceed with different speed, and its result is most often the decay of the wood. The often hidden decay of wood is very dangerous for the tree. Progressive decay inside the tree trunk, which may have started ,from minor wounds, often only then becomes apparent, when a tree dies or is blown over by the wind. Therefore, it is of great importance in the care of trees to properly protect them against mechanical damage, and - in case of their occurrence - proper protection against wood infection and treatments facilitating overgrowing with healing tissue.
Wounds at the cutting sites arise as a result of consciously performed procedures. But, as many examples show, they are the way, which get inside the plant by various organisms that cause decomposition of wood. In this way, types of damage that are very dangerous to trees are created. The ease of infection is due to two conditions, that occur at the site of the cut. These are open vessels and coils into which the penetration of the pathogenic agent is very easy, and high humidity of these places, resulting from the water absorption of the wood. The location of some cutting sites is conducive to direct absorption of rainwater, others are flooded with water running off the surface. If the wood is soft and easily absorbable (np. at willows, poplar, lip. clones), cuts usually do not dry out. Decomposition is very rapid in such tree species. Therefore, it is of great importance to protect the open tissues of wood against infection with appropriate measures, whose task is primarily to create a coating that protects against moisture and penetration of the pathogenic agent. At the same time, the chemical action stops the decomposition of the wood.