A friend's cherished magnolia had to be taken down earlier this year.
Now, there are about six stems sprouting from the trunk -- about 2 feet
high. Is there any chance one of these could be coaxed back into a
tree? The original was planted to mark a child's birth, so it would be
pleasing if the tree could be "reborn" in this way.

In article .com,
"vio" wrote:

A friend's cherished magnolia had to be taken down earlier this year.
Now, there are about six stems sprouting from the trunk -- about 2 feet
high. Is there any chance one of these could be coaxed back into a
tree? The original was planted to mark a child's birth, so it would be
pleasing if the tree could be "reborn" in this way.

I've done it with Japanese Maples.

Bill who thinks of copicing. (sp?)

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vio wrote:

A friend's cherished magnolia had to be taken down earlier this year.
Now, there are about six stems sprouting from the trunk -- about 2 feet
high. Is there any chance one of these could be coaxed back into a
tree? The original was planted to mark a child's birth, so it would be
pleasing if the tree could be "reborn" in this way.


I don't have experience with Magnolia but I can offer some advice if
your friend wants to try to grow the tree back.
I would leave ALL of the sprouted stems for now. The important thing the
first year or so is to keep the roots alive. If there isn't enough top
growth to supply food to the roots, they may die and the project is over.
At some point, maybe 1 1/2 years from now, if all has gone well so far,
start cutting out the extra stems one or 2 a year. If some sprouts are
up high on the trunk and others are sprouting from ground level, the one
to keep is the lowest one. The original trunk will rot eventually and it
would be best if the new trunk was starting fresh at ground level.
Again, I haven't done this with Magnolias (I'm too far north for any
Magnolia). This would be VERY easy to do with a willow or a Silver Maple
and it would never work for some other trees. The fact that there are
about 6 sprouts tells me that the tree has a good chance.

Steve

Thanks, both -- that's encouraging --- now all we have to do is make
sure the new shoots survive a Toronto winter!

Jones wrote:
On 2006-08-12 00:38:14 -0400, Steve said:

vio wrote:

A friend's cherished magnolia had to be taken down earlier this year.
Now, there are about six stems sprouting from the trunk -- about 2 feet
high. Is there any chance one of these could be coaxed back into a
tree? The original was planted to mark a child's birth, so it would be
pleasing if the tree could be "reborn" in this way.


I don't have experience with Magnolia but I can offer some advice if
your friend wants to try to grow the tree back.
I would leave ALL of the sprouted stems for now. The important thing
the first year or so is to keep the roots alive. If there isn't enough
top growth to supply food to the roots, they may die and the project
is over.
At some point, maybe 1 1/2 years from now, if all has gone well so
far, start cutting out the extra stems one or 2 a year. If some
sprouts are up high on the trunk and others are sprouting from ground
level, the one to keep is the lowest one. The original trunk will rot
eventually and it would be best if the new trunk was starting fresh at
ground level.
Again, I haven't done this with Magnolias (I'm too far north for any
Magnolia). This would be VERY easy to do with a willow or a Silver
Maple and it would never work for some other trees. The fact that
there are about 6 sprouts tells me that the tree has a good chance.

Steve

I would also consider "spading off" one of the shoots, complete with
root tissue, and propagating it in some good rooting medium. You might
want to speak to your local nursery about how to do this. See also
Michael Dirr, "Reference manual of Woody Plant Propagation."





I would "air layer" one of the shoots. I've air layered magnolia before
when I was a kid. My parents still have the magnolia tree that I
started from it.

Bob

Thanks again -- with anny luck, at least one of these methods should
meet with success!

vio Thanks again -- with anny luck, at least one of these methods should
meet with success!

i sure would consider air layering at least one or two of the shoots i have never done it myself but from what i understand they are fairly easy to do then at least u stand a chance of one of the methods working for your friend.
also maybe bob might be willing to share some of his insight on air layering the magnolia since he has done it before . good luck. cyaaaa, sockiescat.

Steve wrote:
vio wrote:

A friend's cherished magnolia had to be taken down earlier this year.
Now, there are about six stems sprouting from the trunk -- about 2 feet
high. Is there any chance one of these could be coaxed back into a
tree? The original was planted to mark a child's birth, so it would be
pleasing if the tree could be "reborn" in this way.


I don't have experience with Magnolia but I can offer some advice if
your friend wants to try to grow the tree back.
I would leave ALL of the sprouted stems for now. The important thing the
first year or so is to keep the roots alive. If there isn't enough top
growth to supply food to the roots, they may die and the project is over.

Steve's whole post is excellent. I agree, first save them all then
see how well each of the new sprouts grow. As another poster remarked,
it may not be possible to get this specific plant to grow in tree form
again, because what has happened by accident is what the English and
the Italians do deliberately, which is to cut out the center of a tree
and let all the sprouts grow to make a big shrubby-looking plant that
is supported by mature roots. The English call it "coppicing". They
often do this several times over a period of decades before the roots
are finally exhausted. I brought back several heirloom apple and
crabapple trees, in upstateNY. It worked, altho the harsh winters
meant the plant had to be protected during the worst of the winter, and
lovingly (sparingly) fertilized with compost. We moved away after
about 5 years, but the final form of the plants at that time was more
like a shrub than a tree.

p.s. from the American Heritage Dictionary: cop·pice
n. A thicket or grove of small trees or shrubs, especially one
maintained by periodic cutting or pruning to encourage suckering, as in
the cultivation of cinnamon trees for their bark.

At some point, maybe 1 1/2 years from now, if all has gone well so far,
start cutting out the extra stems one or 2 a year. If some sprouts are
up high on the trunk and others are sprouting from ground level, the one
to keep is the lowest one. The original trunk will rot eventually and it
would be best if the new trunk was starting fresh at ground level.
Again, I haven't done this with Magnolias (I'm too far north for any
Magnolia). This would be VERY easy to do with a willow or a Silver Maple
and it would never work for some other trees. The fact that there are
about 6 sprouts tells me that the tree has a good chance.

Steve

vio wrote:
A friend's cherished magnolia had to be taken down earlier this year.
Now, there are about six stems sprouting from the trunk -- about 2 feet
high. Is there any chance one of these could be coaxed back into a
tree? The original was planted to mark a child's birth, so it would be
pleasing if the tree could be "reborn" in this way.

This is a bonsai technique called "trunk chopping." IT should grow
back just fine. How big is the stump?

How big is the stump?

The tree was nineteen years old and the trunk was about 10" across

vio wrote:
How big is the stump?

The tree was nineteen years old and the trunk was about 10" across

It's going to take a while before a shoot can gain that diameter again,
but it should happen.

I disagree with the other posters about coppicing making your tree into
a shrub. I agree that you COULD do that if you wanted to, by leaving a
lot of shoots and cutting off anything that got large. See the
Wikipedia article about coppicing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppicing

Note that this technique was used to make lumber for ship building, and
there are several pictures of coppiced trees as full grown large scale
trees.

If you want to hedge your bets, air layer a few of the shoots, then cut
off all but the strongest one and let that one become a main trunk.

Thank you --- the tree marked the birth of my friend's first child and
he is thrilled that he
may be able to save it.