I'm heartbroken - yesterday I discovered that someone snapped off the top half of my dwarf spreading JM. The tree was planted in May 2005, it it in my front yard. It was about 30" tall. Someone broke the main trunk about halfway down. The trunk has two sound branches left. The break is clean, and sap is flowing. I have the top of the tree, with 4 small branches. Can I graft or fasten the broken top back to the trunk? Can I root the top part? I'm in Cambridge, Mass., where we are having a very mild winter, the ground is not frozen. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry, but you won't be able to graft or root anything. The good news it that the tree will mostly likely be fine. It' will look a bit funny for a year or two then your laughing. M.
Sorry to hear about the damage to your maple. I have had good luck with split branches re-mending when they have been damaged by wet snow load if found quickly and taped with grafting tape. It has been my experience that if the break is completely off of the tree it will not heal back on the original spot. I do not think grafting is an option and they do not root well. The only hope I can offer is that most times these trees are very forgiving and will eventually grow back if given time. I have attached a picture of an A.P.’ Crimson Queen’ that I acquired about 12 years ago. The plant was at a nursery that was moving to a new location and the workers had hit the tree with a machine and broke all of the branches off the tree except two. It looked like a stick with two arms sticking out for the next three years. It eventually grew back and filled out entirely. Ed
I had a similar thing happen recently to me, except the culprit was my dog. He ran over and snapped off a large branch of a small Orangeola, basically taking off 1/3 of the tree. I tried to duct tape it back on, but with our horrible windy, wet, snowy weather, and the bad break, it did not work. So I guess we'll both have to be patient and wait! At least that was nice to see a laceleaf that had recuperated (although I hope it doesn't take mine 12 years!)
A few years ago a large bull broke into my Japanese garden and broke (in particular) a fine Inaba Shidare and a Shirasawanum Aureum. I was distraught at the time, but I tidied up the break on each tree, burned the broken pieces (so that I wouldn't be reminded) and both trees are now in excellent condition
Instant bonsai! Seriously, in spring your tree will put out lots of new smaller branches and you could train up a new leader (if one doesn't volunteer) using a splint and ties for the season (being careful not to let it cut into the bark).
These are the two plants damaged by the bull a few years ago The Shirasawanum pic is 2005 and the Inaba Shidare from this past year
Sam, you don't mean that a bull got into your garden?! If so, did the farmer pay for the damage, and how did you figure it, I wonder? Around here the "responsible party" is required to pay for damage, including the replacement cost of plants. In practice I've had farmers mend some fences, and the local hunting boss actually installed electric fencing on my split rail when deer were munching maples (deer seem to really like A. palmatum). I was told to present him with receipts if the plants didn't bounce back, but luckily they were OK. Anyway I've had herds of cows, which mostly do damage bumbling about in panic (not to mention what they do to the lawn) but never a bull, knock wood. -E
I paid for the damage myself The local farmers are all neighbours. It makes life difficult to threaten legal action. I content myself with making all the legal noises about what I will do if it ever happens again. It has helped :) The animal almost got stuck in the pond. The mud in the bottom of the pond is about two feet thick. That would have been a very serious situation had it happened. The farmer was made aware of that quite forcibly. The thought of losing a very valuable animal also helped :)
Yes, I'm sure it did. In fact I sympathize very much with the issue of getting on with the local farmers. I've never had to threaten action, to date they (and the hunters) have volunteered to fix the physical damage. It would get trickier with plant damage. Luckily the worst I've seen was some years ago when a cow snapped a weeping copper beech in half. (A very slow grower). It was a shame but didn't seem worth pursuing; the farmers can't lay their hands on funds like the hunters can, and of course are willing to pull the car out of a ditch if kept on good terms. The government here will compensate land owners for boar damage, presumably from some fund the hunters pay into. But although they've done some work in the lower fields they're too shy to come up near the house, except on the quick raid of the orchard! Having a bull loose is no joke under any circumstances, aside from the damage to property people could really get hurt. -E
CRGreen: Quote-Can I graft or fasten the broken top back to the trunk? /Unquote In stem grafting we become most careful in matching the cambium between the scion and rootstock. In the case of a broken branch the cambian layers are a complete match and I suspect you have a good chance that the graft would take. However you must do the graft immediately at the time of break, remove all foliage from the broken section to avoid transpiration and enclose the branch in a plastic envelope to create high humidity. Also you asked if the broken pieces will root. Lately I had a pencil thick branch of A. Dissectum Viridis broken off my tree. I prune it to about a foot length and placed it in my seedling chamber with bottom heating. Viola, it sure produced one strong root and I am awaiting the foliage buds to break in spring and take it from there.
Thanks Daniel. I was trying to use the multiple-quote icon to reproduce the high-lighted segments but it doesn't appear to function with my computer. Appreciate if you can enlighten its function and the manner of operation.
CR, I noted with interest your post about the vandalism to your young tree. I too suspected until recently that my young trees had been vandalized(see my post from last week). However, I've determined that a rabbit is the likely culprit. I too had a couple of JM's cut back hard with clean breaks. However, most telling was my honey locust. It was 30 inches tall and approximately one-third inch in diameter. About one foot up the main trunk, it was cut cleanly in two. It looked like someone had taken a knife or pruning shears to it at a 45 degree angle. I swore someone was messing with me and blamed the kid across the street. However, after doing some checking on the internet and looking at some photos of damage done by rabbits, I'm sure that is the cause. Seeing a cottontail in the yard across the street the next day also confirmed by suspicions. I've put chickenwire around my trees . You might do some checking on this. It just sounds too similar to my situation. BKFisher
How long do you leave the branch in the plastic envelope? What else am I supposed to do after that? Do I air it out and repeat it in the envelope? Do I water it and if so how often? Do I put the envelope in the4 dark or in the sunlight? If you don't mind I need a step by step guide, from beginning to end, please. I am totally illiterate when comes to any kind of plant and tree. Help?
Hi @Georgia Peach, I leave the tape or envelope on for 6 months then take off and check the healing. Always support the broken area when you do this in case it has not healed. You will be able to see a change in colour around the wound like a scab heals on people. I have attached a photo of mine I did in February this year to a broken branch, I will leave it in place until at least October then check it and if still not healed re apply the grafting tape I use. If the repair is working you will see leaves forming and growing away on the repaired branch as you can see in my photos. This is a sign that all is going well. Hope this is of help.
