Advice for Trident

coh said:

What does the lowest chop look like? Can you take a photo showing it from that side? If the callus is still increasing I would think you might be OK, especially if you do go ahead an chop somewhere above to encourage more shoots...or graft something onto the right side. If the callus has stalled then maybe you have a problem. From this angle it looks like the callus hasn't really covered up much of the original chop site but that just may be the perspective.

I've got trees in my growing bed that look like this and I haven't seen any evidence of the trunk dying back below the first chop (not yet, anyhow).

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Saddler said:

I think you are kidding yourself. To me, Smokes advice that it is compartmentalizing and has only a few years left makes a lot of sense. The right side is alive, at the moment. As he said, it is compartmentalizing, as in, the middle of the process. Like most things, the tree will take the path of least resistance. Going around that dead spot is not that path.

Many moons ago I used to cut firewood for a living and this has blown my mind in retrospect. When you are cutting trees up into 16" pieces, you get to see how different factors have changed the tree in a unique perspective. I am sure this explains some of the live / deadwood trees I have bucked up. My money is the live vein above the top of the deadwood is going to shrink and shrink and shrink and die, taking the whole right side with it.

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Guru (Sanskrit: गुरु. IAST: guru) is a Sanskrit term that connotes someone who is a "teacher, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field.

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MapleGuru said:

Sure, he makes a ton of sense. But I also think because the branch above the trunk chop is feeding the right side of the tree, it has a chance to live. Time will tell.

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Giga said:

whats your location? and where did you get this tree - I would love to have it in my hands

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Brian Van Fleet said:

Don't miss his point of grafting a branch on the right side: it is to keep that side alive. Trunk chops on deciduous trees tend to die back to the next living node below the chop. Read this article, under the heading of "How to make the cuts", Brent describes the die-back tendency that Al is trying to get you to avoid by grafting a new shoot to the right side of the trunk.

Here is a photo that shows a healing chop, with a living branch at the bottom of the chop. It happened to sprout as a result of the chop, and yours may do the same. Al must not think it would, or isn't willing to take that gamble. It is speeding the healing process along, and is keeping the area below the chop alive. It may or may not be a part of the final design, so I am keeping it short and not allowing it to run. If it runs, it's just creating the need for another chop. All I need is for it to stay active.

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MapleGuru said:

Im in Augusta, GA. Here is a side view that I just took. View attachment 157164

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