Tree repair
 

The wind in Brisbane knocked the top out of one of our ornamental flowering
gums (Corymbia ficifolia x onto a graft - market name is 'Eucalyptus Summer
Beauty') and I'm going to try and see if it can be repaired as the bark /
phloem is intact for about half the stem diameter.
So far, we've cut most of the leaf mass off the broken top, wrapped sticky
bandage around the break and wet a towel around the break and staked the
whole lot for support.
I'm hoping it may callus over as the break is about half-way up the 2m stem.

If it fails, I'll have to chop it back and let it reshoot, but its paired
with another flowering gum in the garden, so I'd like to try and heal it
first.

Any more ideas?
Amanda

A&G&K&H wrote:
The wind in Brisbane knocked the top out of one of our ornamental flowering
gums (Corymbia ficifolia x onto a graft - market name is 'Eucalyptus Summer
Beauty') and I'm going to try and see if it can be repaired as the bark /
phloem is intact for about half the stem diameter.
So far, we've cut most of the leaf mass off the broken top, wrapped sticky
bandage around the break and wet a towel around the break and staked the
whole lot for support.
I'm hoping it may callus over as the break is about half-way up the 2m stem.

If it fails, I'll have to chop it back and let it reshoot, but its paired
with another flowering gum in the garden, so I'd like to try and heal it
first.

Any more ideas?
Amanda


G'day Amanda!

Exactly the same catastrophe happened to my E.cladocalyx nana (Dwarf
Sugar Gum) about twenty nine years ago. A massive storm broke the
sapling nearly in half and left only about a half of the stem intact.
Not only that, but a longitudinal split went up and down from the wound,
making it one that damaged about four inches of the main stem!

All I did was splint it with a couple of paddle-pop sticks and wrap it
in sticky tape. I was too demoralised to do much else (thought I'd lost
the tree, which had only been in the ground about a month and was
already about six inches taller than me).

Long story short, the tree grew and flourished and is now a fully-grown
beauty at my Mum's place. There's no longer any trace of the original
wound, but for a few years after the accident, there was a bit of a
callus and a lozenge-shaped scar. Of course, you'd be hard put to spot
it in the thick, nubbly bark of the adult tree, but I'd say go ahead and
repair yours - there's no reason it shouldn't flourish. I'd strongly
advise splinting the wound with one or more paddle-pop sticks against
the stem to support it as it heals. Use pantihose or something that's
not going to effectively ringbark the tree as it grows. Oh, and *leave
it alone* to let Nature do her job!

HTH,

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, Australia

"Trish Brown" wrote in message
...
A&G&K&H wrote:
The wind in Brisbane knocked the top out of one of our ornamental
flowering
gums (Corymbia ficifolia x onto a graft - market name is 'Eucalyptus
Summer
Beauty') and I'm going to try and see if it can be repaired as the bark
/
phloem is intact for about half the stem diameter.
So far, we've cut most of the leaf mass off the broken top, wrapped
sticky
bandage around the break and wet a towel around the break and staked
the
whole lot for support.
I'm hoping it may callus over as the break is about half-way up the 2m
stem.

If it fails, I'll have to chop it back and let it reshoot, but its
paired
with another flowering gum in the garden, so I'd like to try and heal
it
first.

Any more ideas?
Amanda


G'day Amanda!

Exactly the same catastrophe happened to my E.cladocalyx nana (Dwarf
Sugar Gum) about twenty nine years ago. A massive storm broke the
sapling nearly in half and left only about a half of the stem intact.
Not only that, but a longitudinal split went up and down from the wound,
making it one that damaged about four inches of the main stem!

All I did was splint it with a couple of paddle-pop sticks and wrap it
in sticky tape. I was too demoralised to do much else (thought I'd lost
the tree, which had only been in the ground about a month and was
already about six inches taller than me).

Long story short, the tree grew and flourished and is now a fully-grown
beauty at my Mum's place. There's no longer any trace of the original
wound, but for a few years after the accident, there was a bit of a
callus and a lozenge-shaped scar. Of course, you'd be hard put to spot
it in the thick, nubbly bark of the adult tree, but I'd say go ahead and
repair yours - there's no reason it shouldn't flourish. I'd strongly
advise splinting the wound with one or more paddle-pop sticks against
the stem to support it as it heals. Use pantihose or something that's
not going to effectively ringbark the tree as it grows. Oh, and *leave
it alone* to let Nature do her job!

HTH,

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, Australia
Thanks Trish you wonder woman!

This fills me with hope that our dear little gum (note I used the word "gum"
just so that you wouldn't get upset with me calling them Corymbias ;) will
come good eventually.
I'm itching to give it a good soaking with the hose, but I'll have to wait
until tomorrow morning when I'm allowed to use the hose and not have to
bucket water to it ...
Amanda

A&G&K&H wrote:

snip


This fills me with hope that our dear little gum (note I used the word "gum"
just so that you wouldn't get upset with me calling them Corymbias ;) will
come good eventually.
I'm itching to give it a good soaking with the hose, but I'll have to wait
until tomorrow morning when I'm allowed to use the hose and not have to
bucket water to it ...
Amanda



Thenk yew! ;-D

Yes, it's hard to resist the temptation to give it extra feeding and
watering etc, isn't it? You want to promote secondary thickening, not
linear growth at this stage. Slowly does it! I hope the little tree
survives!

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, Australia

In article ,
"A&G&K&H" wrote:

The wind in Brisbane knocked the top out of one of our ornamental flowering
gums (Corymbia ficifolia x onto a graft - market name is 'Eucalyptus Summer
Beauty') and I'm going to try and see if it can be repaired as the bark /
phloem is intact for about half the stem diameter.
snip
Any more ideas?

None -- but good luck! I have a Summer Beauty and I love it.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"In Melbourne there is plenty of vigour and eagerness, but there is
nothing worth being eager or vigorous about."
Francis Adams, The Australians, 1893.

"Chookie" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"A&G&K&H" wrote:

The wind in Brisbane knocked the top out of one of our ornamental
flowering
gums (Corymbia ficifolia x onto a graft - market name is 'Eucalyptus
Summer
Beauty') and I'm going to try and see if it can be repaired as the bark
/
phloem is intact for about half the stem diameter.
snip
Any more ideas?

None -- but good luck! I have a Summer Beauty and I love it.

We've got the Summer Red as well, and there's a newer one thats got magenta
flowers ..... but at the moment I can't fit it into the garden .... unless I
want to give up my "reserved" space for the waratah I'm planning on
acquiring at some point in time ;)
We did get a similar tree that is supposed to have orange flowers but its
not from the same bunch that do the Summer x series ... its never flowered
and is developing waaay beyond the 2 m specimen promised on the tag (and its
not comming off the graft). ...maybe I could sacrifice that one .......
Our Summer Red is flowering now (early), but it looks like we won't be
getting too many Summer Beauty flowers this year :(

Amanda

Tree repair
 

"Trish Brown" wrote in message
...
A&G&K&H wrote:

snip


This fills me with hope that our dear little gum (note I used the word
"gum"
just so that you wouldn't get upset with me calling them Corymbias ;)
will
come good eventually.
I'm itching to give it a good soaking with the hose, but I'll have to
wait
until tomorrow morning when I'm allowed to use the hose and not have to
bucket water to it ...
Amanda



Thenk yew! ;-D

Yes, it's hard to resist the temptation to give it extra feeding and
watering etc, isn't it? You want to promote secondary thickening, not
linear growth at this stage. Slowly does it! I hope the little tree
survives!
Right you are. I dare not say too much about it yet as I don't want to jinx
what looks to be happening ... I'll keep you posted.
Amanda
PS - Trish ... I've swapped ISPs and won't be able to get a.b anymore from
next month. I shall also send you my new e-mail addy *now* before I forget.
A