Tree damage

[Barndog56]

I've got a 7 foot Franklin Cider tree that almost completely snapped. A little over a foot above ground it is broken about halfway through, with a split up the trunk about 4".


Should I wrap the heck out of it like it was a graft and see how it heals? Or cut it below the damage and graft a scion from above? Unfortunately that shoot coming out right below the damage is too horizontal to be a new central leader.

 

[Mozark]

I would put a couple deck screws through it, at least one from each side. Then paint it with a pruning sealent, and see how it heals up. Save the lower branch for scion should you have too cut it off and graft it. I caught a limb on my Seckle pear a few years ago with the tractor and broke it, the tips of the branch were touching the ground. Pulled it back up, put three screws through it and painted it with a tar sealant. Now you can't tell it was ever broke.

 

[TreeDaddy]

I believe orthopedic surgeons call that ORIF.....open reduction internal fixation to treat fractured limbs

Pretty cool

bill

 

[g squared 23]

Stabilize it and if you end up with a deficit, you can bridge graft it

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[chickenlittle]

Assuming there are several inches above the graft that are good, I'd just cut it off below the damage and let it push new buds.

 

[ChrisA]

I would put a couple deck screws through it, at least one from each side. Then paint it with a pruning sealent, and see how it heals up. Save the lower branch for scion should you have too cut it off and graft it. I caught a limb on my Seckle pear a few years ago with the tractor and broke it, the tips of the branch were touching the ground. Pulled it back up, put three screws through it and painted it with a tar sealant. Now you can't tell it was ever broke.View attachment 41914

Would this work on a much smaller tree? I damaged a main branch this past weekend when I tried spreading it further than it should have been bent. The result was a long split down below the branch, which I fixed with a zip tie, per the pic below. I did not think of using screws, but this is not a very big tree either, maybe a bit over an inch in diameter. Will this zip tie potentially work, or should I try screws or nails or simply remove it altogether? My first foray into pruning my young trees.

 

[Mozark]

That limb has such a steep crotch angle it will break eventually reguardless, if it where my tree I would go ahead and prune it off now. The tree is young, it will recover quickly. I've done the same thing more times than I care to admit.

 

[ChrisA]

That limb has such a steep crotch angle it will break eventually reguardless, if it where my tree I would go ahead and prune it off now. The tree is young, it will recover quickly. I've done the same thing more times than I care to admit.

Thanks for the input Mozark. I will lop it off and have my wife do the pruning next year!

 

[BuckSnort]

It’s not always the critters or disease that get us, add Mother Nature to the list. Here’s a photo of recent hail damage from NW WI.

 

[Wild Thing]

I've got a 7 foot Franklin Cider tree that almost completely snapped. A little over a foot above ground it is broken about halfway through, with a split up the trunk about 4".
View attachment 41913

Should I wrap the heck out of it like it was a graft and see how it heals? Or cut it below the damage and graft a scion from above? Unfortunately that shoot coming out right below the damage is too horizontal to be a new central leader.

I think I would just lop it off and start over - either with a new shoot or a bark graft. I have one going now that broke on my a couple years ago. I grafted onto it.

I am keeping a couple other grafts going to help the healing process on the stump.

 

[Wild Thing]

Would this work on a much smaller tree? I damaged a main branch this past weekend when I tried spreading it further than it should have been bent. The result was a long split down below the branch, which I fixed with a zip tie, per the pic below. I did not think of using screws, but this is not a very big tree either, maybe a bit over an inch in diameter. Will this zip tie potentially work, or should I try screws or nails or simply remove it altogether? My first foray into pruning my young trees.

I agree with Mozart. I would remove that limb....and one of the others as well. You don't want 2 or 3 central leaders so just start training it into a single central leader.

 

[Barndog56]

The tree from the first pic has not shown a single sign of life. Wondering if it got hit by lightning?

 

[Barndog56]

A bud began to grow after my previous post, so I cut off the trunk just above it. We're now 3 feet later.

 

[Prof.Kent]

Cut those lateral branches off! They're suckin' up all the juice!

 

[Barndog56]

But the leaves on those laterals are collecting sunlight for photosynthesis. I'm always reluctant to cut off healthy green growth. Especially at this point when they're getting close to going dormant.

 

[TenPoint]

But the leaves on those laterals are collecting sunlight for photosynthesis. I'm always reluctant to cut off healthy green growth. Especially at this point when they're getting close to going dormant.

Just prune next spring. No big deal. I leave the bottom branches for a couple years for the reasons you listed. After 3-5 years I’m usually where I want the branches to be.

 

[Prof.Kent]

But the leaves on those laterals are collecting sunlight for photosynthesis. I'm always reluctant to cut off healthy green growth. Especially at this point when they're getting close to going dormant.

Before the vertical bud put a strong shoot up, you needed those lateral branches. You can remove them after dormancy. But next year you want the energy going into that vertical growth and its new laterals that will be highter up....where you want them.

 

[Wild Thing]

I agree with Prof Kent. I start removing the lower scaffolds the same day I plant the tree. Within 2 years to 3 at the most I won't have any branches lower than 4-5 feet above ground level. I want the nutrients and energy going to the main stem and to those scaffolds that I intend to keep.

I planted these Red Wealthy trees in the spring of 2017...


I started removing the lower scaffolds and other unwanted scaffolds the same day I planted the trees...


In late summer I will remove a couple more lower branches and maybe some other unwanted scaffolds higher up. By the second year most all of the spreaders will have been removed. When they go dormant I will remove some more branches. No sense in feeding unwanted branches any longer than necessary.


September of 2020 - a little over 3 years since I planted them - no branches under 4 feet tall and producing well.


December 2020 - These are are 4' tubes and most scaffolds are pretty well developed.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

I agree with Prof Kent. I start removing the lower scaffolds the same day I plant the tree. Within 2 years to 3 at the most I won't have any branches lower than 4-5 feet above ground level. I want the nutrients and energy going to the main stem and to those scaffolds that I intend to keep.

I planted these Red Wealthy trees in the spring of 2017...
View attachment 45754

I started removing the lower scaffolds and other unwanted scaffolds the same day I planted the trees...
View attachment 45755

In late summer I will remove a couple more lower branches and maybe some other unwanted scaffolds higher up. By the second year most all of the spreaders will have been removed. When they go dormant I will remove some more branches. No sense in feeding unwanted branches any longer than necessary.
View attachment 45756

September of 2020 - a little over 3 years since I planted them - no branches under 4 feet tall and producing well.
View attachment 45757

December 2020 - These are are 4' tubes and most scaffolds are pretty well developed.
View attachment 45758

Any issues with removing lower branches now? I thought most pruning had to be done in late winter? I have tons of smaller crabs/apples that I would like to trim some lower branches on, but was worried about removing branches so close to winter? Thanks for your help!

 

[Prof.Kent]

Any issues with removing lower branches now? I thought most pruning had to be done in late winter? I have tons of smaller crabs/apples that I would like to trim some lower branches on, but was worried about removing branches so close to winter? Thanks for your help!

Listen to WildThing. He's a wise man. Especially about me being right. :-)
Usually experts say to prune during dormant times (when the sap is not flowing) so that cuts do not give access to infection. Fireblight can enter trees through the blossoms and through open wounds. I would never cut branches in the growing season if you have active firelight around. Then again, experts say to cut fireblight out immediately whenever you find it. Cuts can also attract insects and they probably carry disease too, just because insects are so icky. (That's a professional opinion, although, granted, my profession is engineering not horticulture. But most people agree insect ARE icky.)

Think of the tree as two symbiotic organisms; The roots and the limbs/leaves. The roots feed the upper tree and the upper tree feeds the roots. If you remove some branches, the roots feed and encourage more growth from the other branches. As long as you don't remove too many branches (over 30% in a year), which will stress (starve) the roots, the system re-balances itself with a designed, not random, structure/shape.

Also as trees get old, and therefore fruit spurs get old and less productive (apples get smaller, on average), it is good to prune out spurs and/or branches to encourage new spurs to form. So pruning is a way to increase both the health , production, and growth of the tree.

The Professor has spoken.
(Gosh, its fun being anonymous.)