Healing wounds on deciduous trees, is it practiced enough?

It’s Autumn in the southern hemisphere and we’re heading into that time of year when we can evaluate our deciduous tree‘s post leaf drop and prune in preparation for spring.

In build up to this I thought it prevalent to highlight a few points.

Firstly what is the main ingredient to heal large wounds? Growth and lots of it! In order to get this growth we need? Space! To get the resultant growth the tree needs to stretch out. How else can we help this along? Good nutrition and wound management. Pictured below you will notice the cut putty used and the resultant rolling of the callus tissue. Scaring the edges of the callus tissue will alert the tree to continue to heal over and speed up the process, this is done on a few occasions throughout the year. What’s also needed is a smooth surface for the callus tissue to roll over. Often I utilise a box knife to finely cut a smooth surface. Every little bit to help the process will speed up the healing.

The progression of the cut site. Notice the callus roll over on the edges. Unfortunately at the time of the initial cut, we did experience some dieback. Although a stub/ internode was left behind at the time of the cut, my thinking is that the new leaders weren’t yet established enough resulting in the dieback. I do however estimate two years of strong growth should see this wound close.
Growth and space. When it comes to Japanese maples there’s a nuance to the image we are trying to create, generally elegance personified. We have to balance strong growth for healing with the design we are building. That means transition leaders, specific cut backs. Post leaf drop will be a good time to circle back to the decisions made on this tree.

In closing, when you come to evaluate your tree post leaf drop, consider the future of the tree and what is required to get it there. This may mean you don’t cut back an elongating branch or you plan to place it in a grow box in spring to allow you to perform future tasks on the tree after it has had a good strong growing season. Each action taken has a consequence, understand energy management and what decisions to make will become clearer.

I would encourage owners of older deciduous tree’s not to be put off with the idea of placing a tree back into a wooden box for a season or 2 to re-invigorate it.

Two Islands Bonsai
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