[nafex] winter hardiness question

I've had an apple tree mostly die last winter, and I doubt it will fully recover. It was growing well, in some of my better soil, a few years old but not yet making fruit, a known hardy variety on a possibly not as hardy rootstock. I see now it has a vertical crack in the trunk which isn't fresh and I suspect happened in a previous bitter winter.

Isn't this supposed to kill a tree right away? How many years can a tree last with this damage? Did it suffer as much damage from the too mild 2015-16 winter?

Tanis Cuff, s WI, deerflies and ticks and mosquitos all active but I still have a lot of work to do
__________________
nafex mailing list
nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Northamerican Allied Fruit Experimenters
subscribe/unsubscribe|user config|list info:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex