There are some "absolutes" posted above that aren't correct. The intents were fine, but the end messages give false info. As formandfoliage alluded to, there are times that certain "sealers" have been proven to be beneficial. They definitely have their disadvantages in typical applications, but that doesn't meant they are always the wrong thing to do. Just don't use them unless you are sure they are needed, and usually they are not the best solution. Another point that is a little misguided is that sap bleeding doesn't hurt trees. While it's true that most healthy trees can endure the process without any problem, it's not true that it doesn't stress the trees or atttract problems in some cases. The process costs the tree stored energy, and this can be a problem for a weak tree or one faced with higher than normal disease/pest pressures. There can also be additional pest and disease issues brought on by bleeding. Some pests are attracted to tree wounds (particularly when the wound is bleeding) of certain species of trees. So, even though it's not normally a problem for most healthy trees, it's just not true that bleeding is completely harmless.

i am glad you found a place to learn ... first.. lets ignore this one for a moment ... and look at the one behind ... NEXT TO THE A/C ... that one needs to be moved.. when the leaves fall off this fall ... NEVER plant a deciduous tree over an a/c ,,, also ... i will presume the a/c is within a couple feet of the house ... and the next rule.. is never plant a tree that close to the house.. think of it this way ... will the tree be happy.. when it is 40 feet tall ... or is it going to be leaning away from the house..scratching the siding.. interfering with house maintenance.. etc ... those trees should be a min.. 20 feet from the house ... next... go buy a GOOD pair of hand shears ... and simply cut all the dead stuff off the first one ... and see how it grows this summer ... at this point.. no need to hack it to the ground .... you might be surprised how good it looks.. after your remove the dead stuff ... that is irritating you ... there is no instant gratification with trees.. they live decades.. if they look a bit poor the year after transplant.. it really isnt going to mean anything in 20;.. 30 ..40 ... years ... you have to go a bit zen on them.. and just be happy they lived thru their first winter ... and protect them their first summer with PROPER watering... and thru pruning.. we will get them into shape ... ken ps: the grass indicates you need to learn about watering.. including the difference between watering grass.. which is all surface.. and watering transpalnted trees.. which is a much deeper.. less frequent watering method ... refer to the link for a general overview .... Here is a link that might be useful: link

Yes, I have seen the three tree method that some growers use to produce multi trunk ornamental trees. I even planted a paperbark maple tree that had been handled like that. One of the paperbark trunks dominated and the other two died off each at different times. It did not seem to matter what I did to try and save those, they still died while the dominant one thrived as if no stressors of any kind existed for it. Also planting three young trees together is the technique I myself had tried to get a multi trunked River Birch tree. Five years later, one of those trunks thrived and now has a 3 inch wide trunk with beautifull pealing bark, and which has grown to about 10 feet tall. The other two trunks are currently about 4 feet shorter, also with some bark pealing and with only about 1 inch in trunk diameter. This drastic imbalanced look is why I dug the two shorter trunks, and now have them in bare root form. I have seen other reports of people having success at growing a new single main leader by the cutting back nearly to the ground of the damaged main leader. Of course those damaged trees are usually fairly well established. So I do not know why I could not do the same thing with my single trunked birch trees. That is, as long as I do it at the right re-established root development point. Is this truely a bad idea? I do think that my trees are nearly twice as mature than what past growers generally used for clumping out multi trunk birches, but if I do not begin the process to eventually prune out the current one inch wide trunks for these two trees; they too will likely dominate too much over any new sprouts which I might get to pop up out of each of their own root balls. I have also seen what you suggested concerning the trunks of clumps spreading to far; that is on a neighbor's birch that has only two leader trunks, and which is almost 30 years old. Is my only other option to keep them as single trunked trees. Is this delima, also why I have had such a difficult time finding young multi-trunked Heritage birch trees at my local nurseries. Also am I wrong in thinking a three trunked rootball would tend to grow more slowly and end up with less height potential if all three trunks emerging from one rootball grew at a relatively well balanced rate, and no trunk is allowed to remain, which seemes to so drastically dominate over the other two.

Ok thanks guys! I instinctively did just that. Phew. I noticed a bunch of small (maybe 3 or 4) long wispy roots had come up to the surface today while i was mulching. Is this also indicative of my tree searching for water over the winter? I feel bad now lol. What do I do with them? Do I tuck these little wispy roots back in? Won't they get hurt by snow (we have some coming this weekend possibly) or scorching sun in the summer? Thanks!