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Fruit & Orchards

Split Branches from snow damage

12 years ago

The disastrous snow storm in Connecticut split several of the branches on my largest tree, a Mac. It is pruned with an Open Center . With the branches split, not broken or hanging, will it heal if I close the split? suggestions on how to do this? Split branches are 3-5" in diameter

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Comments (3)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
in my estimate.. wood does not heal ... and the healing of the bark is not going to hold up a limb of that size ... especially with fruit ...

w/o a picture.. its really hard to speculate.. as to whether it is salvageable ... see link

i suspect .... that you want a pretty tree .... but every visit to an orchard.. only shows me.. that production trees are not really pretty ... and i would suggest that the best solution is to remove the broken parts.. and let the tree continue on its way ... but that is all complicated if it is the primary focus of your suburban yard ....

so talk to us about what is 'really important' .. a pretty tree.. or a production tree ...

it is my base position on trees .. that all broken branches are properly pruned off... no matter what the tree ends up looking like .... production or not ...

one option.. might be to plant a replacement ... and cope with the ugly one.. for a year or two.. while the other gets going.. and then when it gets too ugly.. you already have a replacement

good luck

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link
alan haigh
12 years ago
Split branches are fine- if they stayed upright with that snow load I'm sure they can hold a crop. They can also become stronger and more rigid over time as new wood forms. As long as we're talking about those horizontal splits. Even a half snapped branch can sometimes be saved- especially in a young tree where it's going to get much more diameter over time.
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The wound will continue to get worse as the plant grows. Growth will produce more weight, and the split will continue to open up more until the limb rests on something (another limb, etc). As the wound is expanded, new opportunities occur for pathogens to enter. Also, rot will eventually begin to deteriorate the exposed area. The plant will never be able to close this mess up satisfactorily, and significant rot will set in long before it had a chance anyway. As previously stated, sealant/tree-goop/denatured alcohol/cheese whiz will do nothing to help the problem and may well be contraindicated. The one possible exception is liquid copper fungicide (discussed in the Tree Forum many times before), but even that is not really going to be a great solution to this problem. Cutting the plant back to ground level and letting it resprout will work, but aftercare can be relatively significant. Crapes often regrow rapidly and the growth tends to be floppy. It's highly likely you'd need to support the new growth until it reaches a size that can be self-supporting. Pantyhose can actually work well for this. Also, you will need to choose the number of trunks you want to end up with and keep the additional root sprouts removed. Ripping the very young sprouts off of the root system/stump is preferred to pruning (which encourages more growth). If this were mine, I'd probably either just leave it and see what happens (I mean it's not like a huge tree that could fall apart and cause mass devastation) or prune it back to a decent size lateral branch (drop-crotch pruning/reduction pruning/etc). A good overall picture might change my mind, but that's my ideas at this point.
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hey dano.. i got so wound up on you telling him to surgically repair it.. i missed your caveat ... lol torn.. the inside wood is dead.. it will NEVER heal.. like a bone might ... at best.. you are allowing the 'skin' to heal.. no one argues that point.. but without the interior structure.. what are you left with.. well?? .. frankly a limb that will break.. when the structure get larger than the 'fix' can hold.. the 'appearance' of a fix.. does not mean it will ever be structurally sound ... its sorta like staking.. you stake to the prevailing wind ... so all devious planning aside.. what the heck happens when ma nature blows from the other direction.. well.. you are screwed.. just like the tree that has been 'repaired' ... and where are you then.. back to PROPERLY PRUNING IT ... and the base issue is peeps who think a tree is static ... when really.. its shape and form 'evolve' .. and one way they do that is thru ma nature ripping them apart.. and another way is thru pruning.. to avoid ma natures fury ... IMHO.. the best advice.. is properly prune off the damage.. give it a year or two to recover.. and then decide if its OK to your eye.. and if not.. get rid of it .. NOTHING LASTS FOREVER ... and if its NOT OK to your eye.. meaning it will bug the heck out of you.. then just be done with it ... please .. step down from the soapbox .. and shut the heck up.. lol ... [thats the voice in my head.. talking to itself.. lol] ken
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hey swag ... when you post pix.. use the HTML codes.. instead of the IMG codes.. and on PREVIEW.. the pix will be right in your post ... the probelm.. was planting multiple leader trees.. which are inherently week.. because when snow is trapped between the mult leaders.. well.. you know what happens.. they splay ... frankly.. very frankly.. this is one of the reasons i got rid of all my plants that had this problem .. that plus tip blight on the junipers ... your backyard one is a thuja.. aka arb ... same problem ... good luck ken
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Amazing how someone brand new to these forums decides to come in and attempt to regulate what can or can't be said here! First, this is not intended to be a "help" forum but rather one for discussion of professional topics of interest to green industry professionals. So someone - a nonprofessional - came in to ask advice of a professional and that advice was generously given. What is objectionable is the way that advice was summarily dismissed by the OP as "bad" - and rather rudely so - based on other information they subsequently discovered. Neither advice is bad. Sure the OP could bolt together the torn branch if they wanted to.......it was only pointed out that this was unlikely to be as easy or as successful - based on the extensive amount of damage and the time delay - as the video alluded. It has nothing to with egos but everything to do with common courtesy and politeness. I feel no need to exercise any 'humility' with regards to offering advice I have spent dozens of years accumulating working as a horticultural professional. If the OP didn't like the advice, he didn't have to follow it - his choice. But to come back and rudely and incorrectly state the advice was "bad" and pretty much imply that I didn't know what I was talking about based on his a viewing a single video, then claim - based on this extremely limited knowledge - that the video was the only "right" way was offensive.
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garyt33
Original Author
12 years ago
This is not an ornamental just a heavily pruned tree which relies on all branches left for fruit production and ease of spraying. I tied the split branches with rope to the unsplit side and will see what happens next year. Now that the snow has melted you can only see the split in the bark.. keeping my fingers crossed . Thanks for the replies.

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