[IMG]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc70/yippee1999/IMG_2499.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc70/yippee1999/IMG_2500.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc70/yippee1999/IMG_2501.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc70/yippee1999/IMG_2502.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc70/yippee1999/IMG_2503.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc70/yippee1999/IMG_2504.jpg[/IMG]

argh!! Photobucket is so UN user friendly. I can't figure out how to share these photos!

pix

Here is a link that might be useful: tree

There appears to be a LOT of damage to the trunk so I'd say the long term prognosis is iffy at best. If the bark has not been fully removed or torn away all around the trunk (the full circumference), I'd give it a 50-50 chance of survival. If it has been removed - girdled - then all bets are off :-(

Other than cleaning up the wound with pruners (clean cuts) as best you can, there is nothing else you can do now. You do not want to seal off any of the damaged portions - the tree will scar these over on its own - but you may want to offer some sort of wrap to protect against winter sunscald. Or place in a protected location where this will not be a factor.

If the tree has been in the same pot for 3 years, it IS time to repot. Wait until it is dormant (lost all its leaves) and then repot in a larger size and with a good quality, coarse (barky) potting soil. The long whippy growth you have seen is very characteristic of first year growth on a lot of young JM's. If it bothers you excessively, you can head it back but it is entirely normal and young trees outgrow this tendency. I would not do any serious pruning at this time - the tree has been shocked and stressed enough already - but see how it fairs through the winter. If it buds out well next season, you can do some remedial pruning to improve the damaged habit next summer. But right now, it's just a waiting game to see if the tree survives that type of damage.

Hard to say for certain, but it looks as though it was girdled a short distance about the graph. Assuming this is true, then you need to cut the tree off at that point. If you do not, the top will stay green, but nothing from the leaves will be going back to the roots. So the roots will use all reserves keeping the top green and eventually die.

The chew spot is above the graph, but not much. It may resprout next spring there, but also below the graph. If it does resprout above the graph, you will have to remove all sprouts below the graph. It's also possible that it will resprout below the graph, but if you continually remove those, then it may force sprouting about the graph.If all this does happen, you will have to reshape it over the next couple years.

FWIW, I had a similar thing happen. Planted JM, freeze bitten, heavily damaged, then apparently a dog comes along chewing trees, and did pretty much the same damage, except it was chewed to about 8" high, with a couple inches of graph. Dug it up put it in a pot, where some resprouting occurred. Left for the summer, then this spring sprouts everywhere. All were left to photosynthesize. Then summer growth began later, and the tree has really spring back with shoots 2+ feet long. Next phase will be pruning this winter, and perhaps by next fall it will be ready to go back into the ground. But in a less freeze prone location.

Arktrees

The really bad news is the tree's root system. Three years in that small pot and the roots are going round and round an round.

A very bad thing.

How about forgiving the dog? (Actually, I think it did you a favor.) And start over. Get a tree this fall, then put it in the ground where you want it to be.

Thanks Arktrees and Gardengal. I guess I'll just wait and see. Arktrees, can you tell me what you mean by "girdled"?

As for repotting, I assumed that now would be a BAD time to repot...that I should wait until the Spring. I always thought that when you repotted, the tree went through an adjustment period, and that the last thing you want is a plant getting adjusted just as the first frosts may be arriving...that the plant should have had sufficient time to re-establish before any frost....?

BTW Jean, I did pot the tree up about 1-2 years ago so it hasn't been in the same pot for three years. As for forgiving the dog...I can't really fault him...he's a dog after all. I am however very upset with the owner who gave him free rein to use our shared yard as his private toilet, and to dig huge holes all over the yard, and now it seems to destroy my tree. And uh....I don't consider what he did to be a "favor" ....

Hi, I saw the state of your poor maple and decided to join. Arktrees and gardengal have given you some good advice. What they mean by "girdled" is that a ring of bark has been removed around the trunk, and from your pictures it is hard to tell if the tree has been completely girdled or not, we can't see the back of the trunk.

My hunch is that it has been girdled, in which case it is best to follow arktrees' advice and make a clean cut just below the damaged portion, but as far above the graft as you can. The roots are the part of the plant where energy is stored for next year's growth and they seem undamaged, with any luck the long term outlook for your maple could be positve.

It is very common for bonsai practitioners to 'chop' a tree to create the rapid taper that helps give the tree the illusion of age, so there is almost a 100% chance your tree is going to be fine. Here is what I would do:

Make a cross-cut immediately below the damage with a sharp saw. Clean the edges of the cambium smooth with a utility knife, using a new blade, and seal that entire cut with Elmer's water-proof glue. Cover all the wood and go all the way to the edge of the cut, but don't slop glue on the bark. Before I get disagreed with, let me add that the tree will be shortened later and the 'dressed wound' will be coming off. It is only being dressed to help prevent the cambium from drying out additionally below the damage. We want a strong new shoot to emerge from the cambium at the circumference of the cut and the glue guarantees it. I've done it hundreds of times and it works. It's also helpful to wrap the bark immediately below the cut with grafting tape for an inch or so, with the grafting tape flush to the cut. This prevents an ugly bulge later.

Give the tree some protection in an unheated garage or bury the container. If you intend to keep the plant in a container, unpot the tree before buds move in the spring, remove all the old soil, and prune the roots. Repot in a free-draining soil and the same pot (or smaller).

The tree will back-bud and send out multiple shoots from the scion. Allow them all to grow wild, but immediately remove any shoots from below the graft, and train 1 robust shoot emerging from your cross-cut to the vertical, if necessary.

After Father's Day, cut back by half all but the 1 vigorous shoot growing vertically. In spring before buds move (2011) taper the crosscut at a 45* angle with the high part of the cut terminating a tiny bit above where the new leader emerges. Use no sealant on the wound and it will close almost completely that year or the year after. Also remove all remaining branching from the trunk, leaving only the new leader.

As I mentioned, this is no big deal, your tree is salvageable (or you can send it to me if you doubt) ;o) I've done it many, many times. Be careful not to over-water the stump in spring - easy to do.

Sprouts from an A palmatum trunk:

{{gwi:3257}}

Al