need help asap to save branch broken off crabapple

14 years ago

My beloved crabapple tree, Clemetine, had a branch that was my FAVORITE branch - it curved so beautifully downward toward my flowers and I've loved and admired this branch since I planted Clementine. A BEAR came one night last week and tried to get Clementine's crabapples (she had a lot of them) and BROKE MY FAVORITE BEAUTIFUL BRANCH! :`(~~~~

I am HEARTBROKEN...my poor Clementine! So I took the branch to a friend's small greenhouse to protect it from the cold a bit (no heat but shelter at least) and put it in water, hoping to be able to root it...or better yet, reattach it. Since putting the branch in the greenhouse, we got snow and the water the branch is in froze. Tomorrow is the only day my friend is available to drive me out to where the greenhouse is to do something with this branch - so I NEED HELP ASAP! I have no idea what to do to save this branch!!! :`(~~~ It's several feet long (5'? 6'? hard to envision how long exactly but fairly long) and I'm not sure how thick since it's not here with me, but maybe about 1.5-2"? diameter or so at the point where it attached to the tree. It left a fair sized wound on the trunk (the branch was attached somewhat of a "V" to the trunk, which I understand is not the best formation for fruit tree branches but it curved up and over so beautifully) when it was ripped off. I know this is not what most people would do, but I really really want to save this branch - I LOVE it so much! :`(~~~

It's slightly warmer out today/tomorrow than it has been the past few days but still cold...and soon we will get more snow that will last for months (it will also get -40 degrees in winter and worse)

Is there a way that I can re-attach it? Can I root the whole branch? Could I bring the whole branch indoors for the winter and root it somehow? (then it could become a second tree and I'd still have that beautiful curving branch). I know people usually root small cuttings not entire big branches but I love this branch and want to root the whole branch if I can. Is there a way that I could put rooting powder on it, plant it outside and maybe put straw around it for insulation or something - is something I can do so that it will survive the winter outside? Would it be better to bring it indoors over the winter? Would it survive if I try to root the whole branch indoors over winter and plant it outside in spring when it has roots? PLEASE TREE EXPERTS - I NEED YOUR HELP! :`(~~~

I know this is not the usual thing to do but if there is any way this is possible, I really really want to save my favorite branch. I love it so much...please help! I have to do something asap as tomorrow my friend can help me, and also because it's cold outside and soon there will be more snow and even colder (there's a chance we might get a short warmer period, but by the end of the month we could get snow that stays for the winter). PLEASE HELP me save Clementine's beautiful branch!

Thanks to anyone who cares and takes the time to reply

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

clementinecrabapple
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I just realized it's 2:33am FRIDAY - so it's not "tomorrow" that I need to do something with this branch, it's today, Friday. Also, I didn't mention - all the crabapples have been picked from the branch and the tree. If it's absolutely impossible to re-attach the branch, then I also need to know what to do about the wound left on the trunk where the branch was ripped off. Thanks again
Scott F Smith
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Dry it out and make a piece of woodwork out of it. Once a tree loses a branch it can never be re-attached. Just leave the wound as is, it will heal over time.

Scott
Related Discussions
Please help - Dracaena has broken off!
Q
Comments (16)
ok, well the top 2 1/2 feet w/leaves is still in the water jug, no roots, but the leaves show no sign of anything bad. I had cut off a 3" piece of the cane before putting it in the water, put it bottom side down in rooting hormone and then in starter mix.... and the bottom turned brown and shriveled. The top shrunk and got "holey". So if I hack the stem all up, do I treat the cut end on top with wax or something? Since my 1 cutting failed so miserably, I'm nervous about the next step. The part of the stem that's in the water (about 4" of it) is approx 5/8" in diameter. Am I safe in assuming this is too big to just root? (no signs yet). I know I need to do something soon. Thankfully the plant that's left does have 3 little sprouts coming off the trunk. But the other side of the planter looks very lonely. I'm so nervous I'll screw this up. I have starter mix and also a bag of perlite from hypertufa projects. I've never tried to root anything in it. Is the consensus that I should just cut the stem up in pieces and lay them on their sides? and throw out the leaf top? Gina
...See More
Advice needed on broken branch
Q
Comments (34)
I decided to post an update because I finally have some good news. When I cut off the bad part of the branch in October I was dismayed to find it indeed looked like rot and it was down much farther in the caudex than I could imagine. I cut down as far as I had to, which left very little above the graft. I didn't have a choice though, and I'm glad I went ahead and did it. It was so sad, big shiny leaves, gorgeous flower and beautiful buds discarded everywhere. After cutting I ended up with 2 6" cuttings, a tip and a mid section. Now, 2 months later, I HAVE A ROOTED CUTTING! I am so happy to say I have growth on my mid section cutting. The tip cutting dried out and shriveled to nothing a while ago, but this thick crazy section has a couple growths poking out of the main branch and leaves starting on 3 of the little branches! I finally was able to root a cutting, an important one at that. The parent Adenium also has new growth, and I think is may be above the graft point, barely. I have the cutting in a stupid little plastic pot in a gritty mix. I guess I will start watering when dry by the skewer method regularly now. I'm so happy, thanks again everybody for the support. Growth on the cutting: Whole ugly cutting: Original Adenium with new growth: -H Edited to add this took 1 month, not 2 like I said in my post above. I'm trying to make this year go uneven faster I guess. This post was edited by ginger9899 on Sat, Nov 16, 13 at 21:28
...See More
HELP! need advice on saving a large broken branch
Q
Comments (5)
orchidguy is right. In most cases, pruning paint/sealer is not only useless in fending off unwanted problems, but can prevent a woody plant from doing its own 'healing'. It was once thought that these products kept disease pathogens from entering a wound, but we know, now, that that is not the case. The only times that I would ever recommend that a sealer be used is if the plant in question is susceptible to a particular type of borer insect and it was the time of year for that borer to be active.
...See More
Need opinions/help ASAP please!
Q
Comments (13)
Bee, Crape myrtle murder is a very common (unfortunately!) practice of repetitively topping crape myrtles year after year, leaving horribly scarred branches that look worse and worse over time. It is incredibly common in places like mall or shopping center parking lots. When new homeowners buy a place with a crape myrtle or plant one in their yard, they often copy that type of pruning because they've seen it so often they think it must be the correct way to prune crape myrtles. Horticulturalists have been fighting the practice of crape murder for at least a couple of decades, but not many people seem to be listening to them. I can't remember where Tim and I were last week, but we actually were in a parking lot where the crape myrtles had not been murdered, and they looked so much better with their natural shape, as opposed to the crape murdered ones, which often have a sort of bonsai-looking top on otherwise normal looking multiple trunks. I'll link an article by one widely-respected Texas horticulturalist, Greg Grant, but you can find a million more with similar info by googling. When you look at the photos in his article, you'll see where the branches have been cut in the same place year after year. When the branches are cut, the plants put out new growth just beyond that cut, and then the murderous pruners come and cut back at the same spot the next year and the next, and the tree keeps putting out new growth. Eventually you get the scarred-looking branches as the photos show. Gardening is a process in which you never stop learning and I think the easiest way to learn it is just by doing it. Reading about it endlessly will put a lot of info in your head, but a lot of the time, that info isn't very helpful until you've encountered a situation where you put what you read into use. You never stop learning and you never stop finding new techniques or better techniques that suit whatever situation you're dealing with.You do something and you learn from it either way....either you learn it works and that you like it and that you'll use that technique again in the future. Or, you learn it doesn't work as well as you'd hoped, or you think there's a better way, so the next time you try something different. Eventually you will discovered you have found what works best for you with the plants you have in your soil, your location, your climate, etc. Then, if you are like most Americans, at some point you move and start all over again with different soil, different plants and a different location, and then you have to figure out what works best there where you are with what you have. I think all that learning keeps gardeners' brains and bodies young. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Greg Grant Article on Crape Myrtles
...See More
clementinecrabapple
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for the fast reply Scott - if I can't re-attach it is there ANY possible way of *rooting* the branch? 8/
I'm willing to go to great lengths...I'll let that branch sleep in my bed with me all winter if I can save it as a new tree!
:`(~~~
About the wound...I don't do anything at all? When the branch ripped off it took not only the bark (from the trunk) with it but some of the wood from the trunk too (it broke right at the trunk with *none* of the branch left AT ALL). The wound is several inches long and the wood of the trunk is exposed and is rough due to being broken rather than cut...won't it rot or get insects? 8/
theaceofspades
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Take cuttings and save them in the fridge with some moist paper in a zip lock baggie. In the spring graft the crabapple to other apple trees or on a seedling root stock. You will save the crabapple possibly for another hundred years.
clementinecrabapple
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
theaceofspades,
Thanks very much for replying. That sounds better than letting the entire branch just die...but is there no way I can root the entire branch (as one giant cutting)? I was thinking maybe it could be brought indoors, put in a bucket of water...with something in the water for nutrients and then try the rooting thing where you make a cut, put a little stick in it and put rooting powder in the cut, then damp moss/plastic around it (haven't done it but read about it) - which I know is meant to be done when the branch is still attached to the tree, THEN cut it off after it roots but maybe in this case if the branch is getting water with nutrients in it it would stay alive and root inside the moss/plastic...which would be a bit up the branch from the end that is in the water? :/
:`( *Sigh*
Scott F Smith
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I don't think Ace read your initial question carefully. You still have the main tree so you don't need to propagate the variety. That big branch is dead, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Apples don't root and its too big to root even if it were a kind of tree that does root.

Scott
theaceofspades
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Scott, I read the question. I tried to reply with the only workable answer to save the branch, er a just 3 inches of it anyway.

clementinecrabapple you could graft a piece and get another clementine crab apple tree but you cannot save the whole branch.

need help asap to save branch broken off crabapple

Comments (7)

clementinecrabapple
Original Author

Scott F Smith

Related Discussions

clementinecrabapple
Original Author

theaceofspades

clementinecrabapple
Original Author

Scott F Smith

theaceofspades

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

need help asap to save branch broken off crabapple

Comments (7)

clementinecrabappleOriginal Author

Scott F Smith

Related Discussions

clementinecrabappleOriginal Author

theaceofspades

clementinecrabappleOriginal Author

Scott F Smith

theaceofspades

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

clementinecrabapple
Original Author

clementinecrabapple
Original Author

clementinecrabapple
Original Author