Hello All,

I hope you can help me.

I have a Snake Bark Maple which I planted last year & it is currently around 9' tall.

Around 4' up from the ground the main trunk divides into two with around 65% going almost straight up & the remaining 35% branching off.

During the recent windy weather which lasted a couple of days, this branch broke off the main trunk.

This join was around 4' up from the ground & the most severely part of the damaged trunk is 3" long which extends to 6" if you include the damaged & torn bark.
At the point where the branch broke off, the main trunk is down to almost half its thickness, although its generally around two thirds thickness.

This tree is my favourite & I am desperately trying to find out if it can be saved.

I have put in a large 8' stake & tied it above the break.

Any advice you can give me on how to repair the damaged part of the trunk would be very much appreciated.

I understand the biggest enemy is dehydration & i'm worried that I might not have spotted the damage quickly enough.

Thank you very much. Simon.

Some pictures -

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...h/IMG_7294.jpg
http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...h/IMG_7290.jpg


Thanks, Simon.

I see what you have is Hers's maple (misprinted as Her's maple on Wikipedia, I'm right, Wikipedia is wrong). It has at various times been considered a separate species, A. hersii, and also a variety of Acer grosseri, but I think recent thinking is that all these are subspecies of A. davidii, the classic snakebark, despite the very obvious differences. I also have one, about 10 yrs old. I'm guessing yours is about 5 years old?

There are two potential problems with the damaged trunk, one is mechanical strength, and the other is transfer of nutrients. Also, since the value of snake-bark maple is often enhanced by having fairly low branching, to show off the stripes on multiple low limbs, which are kept clear of leaves low down, you have lost an aesthetic feature of the tree.

I have an apple tree (bear with me) which obtained a bad canker fairly low down on the trunk at about 4 yrs old, greatly reducing the transfer of nutrients, as only a narrow part of trunk was undamaged where the canker was located. The result was that the upper tree just couldn't grow. What I did was saw off the tree below the canker (but above the graft) in winter to see if it would regenerate from there. And it did, very well. But I also planted another tree in case it didn't. The sawn-off tree took about as long as a new-planted tree to get back into fruiting, but resulting from being longer established in the ground is better established and larger than the tree 4 years younger.

If you cut off your maple below the damage (wait till it is dormant in the winter), and it regrew, you would probably have the advantage of increased branching, low down, which will then better show off its snakebark, provided you later trim off any low leaf-bearing growth. This depends upon it having dormant buds, in the way that some trees, eg leyland cypress, don't. My tree does seem to have dormant buds, because it occasionally sends out little leaf-bearing twigs low down on the tree. So I am guessing, but not sure, it may be able to regenerate if you chop the top off below the damage this winter.

The mechanical problem is that in the long run to re-establish its strength, ie avoid being leggy and prone to wind, it needs to be flexed by the wind. In the short run you need the stake, but at some point it needs to be freed to flex in the wind to encourage it to grow as needed. If it can't regain sufficient mechanical strength, it may then fail to survive anyway.

In summary, I think your tree is unlikely to be an attractive tree in future as a result of the damage, so you have two choices: (1) replace it this winter (2) try the drastic remedy I suggest. You will choose the former if you don't hvae the patience, and don't have the space /location for a reserve tree.

In the case of apples, I'm a strong believer in planting 1st winter trees (bare root "maidens"), because in the long run they establish so much better. You clearly planted quite a large tree. I wonder if it would establish better if you planted a younger one?

Hi,
Thank you for your very informative reply.

I really don't want to do either of these options but I realise that it problably is for the best.

I will consider which one over the next few weeks.

By the way, I beg to differ on your opinion that I planted a large tree.

Below is a photo that I took immediately after I planted it in May last year when it was barely 5 foot.

The other photo was taken in May this year & has grown considerably since then until it reached 9 ft before the high winds did its worst.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...h/IMG_4914.jpg
http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/a...h/IMG_6326.jpg

Thanks again, Simon.

On 07/26/2010 04:23 PM, echinosum wrote:
Simon_Ash;895354 Wrote:
I have a Snake Bark Maple which I planted last year & it is currently
around 9' tall.

At the point where the branch broke off, the main trunk is down to
almost half its thickness, although its generally around two thirds
thickness.
I see what you have is Hers's maple (misprinted as Her's maple on
Wikipedia, I'm right, Wikipedia is wrong). It has at various times been
considered a separate species, A. hersii, and also a variety of Acer
grosseri, but I think recent thinking is that all these are subspecies
of A. davidii, the classic snakebark, despite the very obvious
differences. I also have one, about 10 yrs old. I'm guessing yours is
about 5 years old?


Um.

Was there an attachment to this I didn't see? It can be quite difficult
to differentiate the various Macrantha section Acers from a photo...

For the record, there are other errors in Wikipedia around the species
(Her's maple indeed!) This one is currently, and correctly in my view,
placed under davidii as Acer davidii ssp grosseri (as you say), and is
synonymous with A. hersii, an obsolete name (A.grosseri Pax 1902, A.
hersii Rehder 1922). This is a distinct plant from A. davidii ssp
davidii (Franchet 1855) first collected by Father Armand David in
Sichuan Province in 1869. Furthermore A. Laisuense (Fang and Hu, 1966)
is currently (de Jong, 1996) considered a separate species.

Which just goes to show you can't believe everything you read on
wikipedia. And also that I am prepared to bore just about anyone to
tears about this stuff!

[snip stuff I mostly agree with]

In summary, I think your tree is unlikely to be an attractive tree in
future as a result of the damage, so you have two choices: (1) replace
it this winter (2) try the drastic remedy I suggest. You will choose
the former if you don't hvae the patience, and don't have the space
/location for a reserve tree.


Note that maples have just one set of emergency buds. If you lop it off
this fall it will probably come back, but don't do it until after leaf drop.

Anyway I think it has every chance of becoming an attractive tree in a
couple-or-four years.

My personal preference is to cut the ragged bark to a clean edge, and
leave the wound to dry. (In this case, moisture is the enemy, not
dehydration. If there's enough cambium left to nourish the leaves,
you'll be OK). Snake bark maples are very good at healing, within a few
years it will probably grow around. True, the spot of the wound will
never have the striping, but eventually that whole part of the tree will
be past the point also. But basically you've got an established (or at
least partially established) maple, if you want a multi-stemmed tree
you'll probably have a chance to have one from this plant if you let
some buds from further down develop.

In the case of apples, I'm a strong believer in planting 1st winter
trees (bare root "maidens"), because in the long run they establish so
much better. You clearly planted quite a large tree. I wonder if it
would establish better if you planted a younger one?


Part of the reason we often plant large maples is that because they are
difficult to establish, a larger plant has more of a reserve to make it
through the first couple of years. Growing a ssp grosseri as a 2 year
old graft directly in the landscape may prove a challenging proposition...

Good luck with it, whichever way you decide.

-E

Hi Emery Davis,

I have always known this Snake Bark Maple to be an Acer Hersii, although the variety isn't really that important to me.

I have three other varieties of Maple & they are all doing well.

I planted it last May when it was five foot tall & at the time of the break in early June it was 9 foot so its almost doubled in height in a year.

As you seem more knowledgeable than the previous poster I have decided to go with your advice & not to cut it at all, I have smoothed the wound over as much as I can & have put in a supporting stake above the break but will be reinforcing that with another shortly.

Thanks for your help.

Simon.