So a massive branch (nearly half the tree) tore off so my front year Boxelder has a massive wound. For the uninitiated, Boxelder wood is a step below balsa. It’s trash wood. It’s a trash tree. But it’s the only shade I have around there so I’d like to save it.
The wound is at a sort of 45 degree angle allowing it to possibly catch so water in the future and I don’t want rot to kill this thing. Some modicum amount of effort will be expended so I bought a paste tree wound repair kit.
But the fiber is so soft and spongy I’m wondering if I am not better off cutting it flat with a chainsaw and then burning it black in a kinda shou sugi ban, THEN the paste.
How old is the tree. I had a beautiful one in my front yard that had to be taken down because it became a hazard. It was 30 years old. The arborist told me that it had just reached the end of its life.
In the 1990s we took the kids to the Laura Ingalls pageant at De Smet South Dakota. It wasn’t a great production, until the end when with the last few lines they talked about how Pa Ingalls planted the first trees in that farm, a row of boxelder trees. Then, with dusk just descending, they turned spotlights on those very trees. It was one of the most moving things I’ve seen in theater. Those trees were at least 110 years old then; I wonder if they’re still there.
This website echoes a couple of others I found. They mostly think Box Elders aren’t worth saving. If it was my tree and I liked it then I’d try to save it, probably try to close up the gash and see what happens but I’m no expert.
For a so-called trash tree spending $$ on an arborist seems over much.
Gunk is way cheaper and worth a try if they really want to keep the tree* for awhile longer.
I agree new trees should go in soon.
*I have a huge ?? Old sweet gum(trashy around here)tree. It had a wound about knee high in its early life. Before I knew it. That wound is what I call my naturally occuring bird bath. It’s well used by the birdies around here. I’ve never bothered it. It fills up with rain water. Tree seems healthy. Make a bumper crop of sweet gum balls every year.
TBD.
It is the OP who has to make that decision. They’re asking here and trying remedies themselves.
I’m guessing they want a less expensive way to go.
Reasonable people can agree the above product is intended towards healing trees. Is it a panacea? No. I came here to ask potentially knowledgeable people for some educated advice.
Did the falling branch tear out a bunch of bark under it, or is some part of the branch left on the tree? If the latter, I would definitely cut that flat, trying to leave the branch collar as intact as you can. It is the branch collar that will heal the wound, if it is possible for the tree to heal itself.
Your municipality or county or state may have a bureau of (urban, if you’re in an urban area) forestry, that might be willing and able to give you some free advice. They usually have certified arborists on staff, and preserving existing mature trees might be part of their remit. It is, in my opinion, worth checking out.
Trees don’t really heal the way animals or humans do. If they get damaged they will seal off the damaged part at the nearest branch collar (where a branch comes off the trunk, or another branch). This seal (complete with its own anti-microbial properties) is designed to keep out infection and preserve the rest of the tree, which will keep growing as best it can. If the damage goes into the trunk, that is tough for the tree, because it can’t seal that off. Over time, it will grow around and maybe cover up the damage, but it never actually heals. If it is just branches, the tree has a much better chance.
Dead wood provides a home for fungus and disease, which once established, can overwhelm the seal and infect the rest of the tree. It’s a good idea to cut damaged limbs back to the branch collar. You should cut at an angle to allow the water to run off. Try to minimise further stress on the tree while it recovers (e.g. water stress, or disturbing the roots). If you want to cut it back more, to fix the shape, I’d wait a few months to see how is is faring.
And try to disturb the collar as little as possible. As others have said, that’s the part that grows to cover the wound.
A healthy oak tree will seal over a properly made pruning cut (to remove a large branch) in a couple of years. But that’s a nice smooth cut, just outside the collar.
A split trunk may never heal over. Or may have so much growing in it by the time it closes that it doesn’t matter.
Box elders grow very quickly. You might consider cutting it down and planting another one.
If you want to keep it, I’d probably try to trim the broken part to be as smooth as possible, without removing any collar material. And then hope.
But maples, in general, don’t heal terribly well, and my guess is that box elders are worse than more longer-lived maples.
When I remove a limb from a tree I always do it in several steps. I leave a long stub so that I can then deal with the stub without a lot of weight. The goal is to leave a situation where the wound does not remain wet with rainwater.
From the situation the OP describes (pictures would be nice) I would use the chainsaw to gradually alter the wound so it sheds water, without harming the tree.