Broken off Chestnut

[CAS_HNTR]

I had a buck get frisky this fall and he destroyed 2 tubes and 1 wire cage in the process of snapping my 3 yr old Chestnuts off about knee height. Bastard

Anyways......I grow a bunch so I can replace them if that makes sense, but I think I may just cut off below the rubbed part and let it grow back.....roots should push growth fast, no?

What do you think?

 

[Native Hunter]

It should work, but you regrowth will be bushy, so you will need to trim down to one central leader once it starts coming back. Depending on the tree, it could have a crook in the trunk, but that wouldn't bother me.

Best wishes.

 

[rocksnstumps]

What you are wanting to do is referred to as coppicing and can definitely get some good growth. Much faster then replanting new. I've done it for the same reason as you with some oaks. At the end of the first summer threw a tube over the best shoot and cut off the rest. Just make sure you have a better stake this time and/or wire around the entire tube when fastening if the first fasteners failed because the tube wall gave out. I find this a problem on some tubes where they put the holes to thread the zip tie through almost too close together.

 

[yoderjac]

I had a buck get frisky this fall and he destroyed 2 tubes and 1 wire cage in the process of snapping my 3 yr old Chestnuts off about knee height. Bastard

Anyways......I grow a bunch so I can replace them if that makes sense, but I think I may just cut off below the rubbed part and let it grow back.....roots should push growth fast, no?

What do you think?

I have been unsuccessful at grafting chestnuts. Unlike other trees, chestnuts tend to respond to injury by putting up new sprouts rather than pushing a graft or other growth. I might be tempted to cut it to the ground and watch this spring for a new sprout. When you see one, tube it and keep an eye on it. If other sprouts develop, cut them down so the energy goes into a new central leader.

The other option is to cut it below the damage like you plan and hope you get a new central leader to grow. If you do this, you will likely get new sprouts anyway. If you don't get a new central leader developing, you could then cut it down in favor of one of the sprouts. If you do get a new central leader you can then remove sprouts so it gets the energy.

One more thing to consider here. Typically when pruning folks suggest you don't remove more than 1/3 of the leaf mass. In this case you will be removing 100%. A tree tries to achieve a balance between top growth and root development. That is why we often prune a whip when we plant a bare root tree. The roots will take time to reestablish and this reduces the amount of top growth they need to support until they do. Here we have the opposite problem. It is probably a better problem to have, but without sufficient leaf mass the root system will have less support from photosynthesis.

So, you may want to split the difference. Select one sprout as a central leader and tube it but leave the rest for the first growing season. Then when the tree goes dormant prune the other sprouts off.

This is a similar concept to what I do when I bark graft larger persimmons. I will use 3 or 4 scions on a 2" or 3" diameter tree. I remove water sprouts but if all 3 or 4 take, I'll leave them for the first growing season. This is to give the tree some place to drive the energy and to provide more leaf mass back sooner to support the big root system. I don't leave multiple scions for the long run because it creates bad crotch angles and the tree can split. So, when the tree goes dormant the first winter I prune all but the best scion. The second year shows a lot of growth and leaf mast on the scion.

Just some ideas to consider when dealing with this.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[cavey]

So, you may want to split the difference. Select one sprout as a central leader and tube it but leave the rest for the first growing season. Then when the tree goes dormant prune the other sprouts off.

That is what I would do too, if you cant get a tube around your selected sprout due the tree or other sprouts I have just taken taller window screen and done a sleeve over it. As added insurance incase the sprout I had chosen craps out I usually cut a 1 foot length of paper tree bark wrap, fold it in half lengthwise and staple it just like we do the window screen to protect one or more of the other sprouts till I make the final choice. I have not had any luck with young damaged chinese chestnuts coming back from a trunk injury like a deer rub or say a pickup truck back over type incident... They tended to send up sprouts and I ended up using them, they seem to come on strong and would likely out pace the long term growth of the damaged tree - if the damage was significant.