Anyway to save the broken branch?

16 years ago

I purchased a beautiful 4-year-old very well branched Villa Taranto this past summer. It's in a pot in the attached sunroom. By accident I broke one of the largest branches with a lot of small branches. Is there any way to reattach the branch to the tree? I used a rubber band and reattached the broken branch to the main branch, but no sure it will work!

Thanks

Featured Answer

aethetic_pruner

16 years ago

Wrap very tightly with electrical or plastic tape without stressing the break. Wrap from lower to up to have lapping that keeps rain from penetrating the wound. Cover the tape with Vaseline or equivalent to fill the cracks.

Comments (8)

Embothrium
16 years ago
If tightly reconnected exactly where it was before breaking may graft back together. Need to have gotten onto this before it got dried out much.
aethetic_pruner
16 years ago
I would treat it as a graft and cover the break with sealing wax to keep it from desicating. Good luck.
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marchela
Original Author
16 years ago
What can be used instead of sealing wax? I don't have one. Thanks
myersphcf
16 years ago
You can probably use elmers school glue after wrapping it tighly wiith something to hold it in place a large cut rubber band... but I would say from my experience it is wishful thinking you can repair it...or to put it more bluntly it would be a snowballs chance in you know where it will make it. And even if you get that lucky it will be a weakened point that will probably be both stunted and subject to damge from the elements.and may look worse than just letting it grow out and trimming to shape..but good luck it never hurts to try ...just prepare yourself for likely failure... David
dansgrdn
16 years ago
Marchela, was the branch completely disconnected from the rest of the tree? If it was broken but not completely separated and had some intact bark and cambium, it has a much better chance of survival. Another possibility for sealing it would be parafilm tape, which is a parafin wax tape which stretches and helps hold it together as well as sealing it. If you want to give it a shot, I have extra that I would be happy to send to you. Just send me an e-mail if you want some to give it a try. Dan
Mike Larkin
16 years ago
In the best case this branch may attach but may not be as strong as it once was. As the tree grows this branch may eventually break again. Maybe it is time to cut your loss and allow the tree to fill in the bare spot when it it young. Why wait until it gets older and the void in much larger.
This happened to me with a weeping maple. The snow broke a very nice branch. I tried to save it. It greened up in the spring. Eventually I decided to remove the once broken branch. In a few years - you would never have known that a branch was removed.
Just a thought - Mike
ashizuru
16 years ago
Cut it off and start again, It will never make a successful union, as mentioned before, in a couple of years it will have put on new growth.
Maybe if you pruned the whole tree to balance the appearance, would be more advantageous, to achieve the desired aspect of the tree.
Sketch a outline of it on paper and expiriment, decide on what is best and go for it!!