Baby Blue branch bummer

[AmyinNC]

Hello all. I brought home a 7' Baby Blue Spruce April 1st. Root ball wrapped in burlap and wire, very heavy I needed assistance getting it into the ground.

Neighbor with a tractor wrapped a strap around it before I could get outside to make sure it was handled as gently as possible and the strap ended up peeling the bark off the base of a branch around the lower middle of tree.

I was told to just leave it be, not to wrap it, just to peel off the loose bark to hopefully prevent pests from hanging out under it.

I recently noticed that the new growth on that branch has not firmed up like the rest of the tree. It's wilted and sort of yellowing or browning a bit. Then noticed sap running from the "wound".

It's right on the front of the tree which is a showpiece of my front yard landscaping so I plan to spin the tree (husband and I did this when finalizing the planting-hooked straps to each side of wire and each pulled to spin the root ball in the hole) to put that section to the back before it starts to really generate new roots. I'm so worried we will lose that branch.

Any one want to weigh in on if they think the branch may recover after awhile? I mean it was able to put out new growth but not support it... I'm not sure what else to do but spin it and hope for the best but would like opinions.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

If the new growth has been wilting, it means that the new growth probably came from internal winter reserves. But now that the roots need to support it, it's not sufficient to keep them alive.
Digging it up and twisting it can and will damage the roots even more.

If you can get some kind of wound dressing, use it. It might stop the bleeding and related sap loss.

Never again listen to someone who says to peel the bark off unless you plan on leaving a piece of dead wood, it might have been able to heal on its own if it was kept in place. Slim chance, but slim is better than none.

Best thing to do now is to take good care of it. Make sure you don't over water it and do expect the floppy parts to die. It can regrow stuff from closer to the trunk as long as there's live foliage telling the tree that there's where sap needs to go.

 

[AmyinNC]

The root ball is wrapped in burlap and wire (they told us to leave it like that but just open up the top) and it's only been in the ground since about April 5th or 6th. My guess is the roots probably haven't done much in that time, I could be wrong. I just don't want to leave that side facing forward if I lose a big chunk of the tree.

I'll look into dressing it and do my best to properly care for the tree in general.

To clarify, you think there's a chance the whole branch will die off? But that something new could sprout from the same area?

I appreciate your input!

 

[Eckhoffw]

The root ball is wrapped in burlap and wire (they told us to leave it like that but just open up the top) and it's only been in the ground since about April 5th or 6th. My guess is the roots probably haven't done much in that time, I could be wrong. I just don't want to leave that side facing forward if I lose a big chunk of the tree.

I'll look into dressing it and do my best to properly care for the tree in general.

To clarify, you think there's a chance the whole branch will die off? But that something new could sprout from the same area?

I appreciate your input!

As @Wires_Guy_wires mentioned, don’t always listen to people in the trade of moving plants.
I found it to be advantageous to remove the wire and burlap.

In its new home the roots shouldn’t be restricted. in addition to that, the soil in that burlap ball , is probably a mess. I recently planted a pretty big baby blue spruce, and inside the Root ball was completely clay.
I understand that spruces can grow in many soil conditions, but why not give it better conditions to grow?

Just Something to think about for next time.


Look as this clay!

 

[AmyinNC]

I was worried it would all fall apart and leave me almost bare root, ya know. Also the tree and root ball is extremely heavy. The root ball was 2'x2' at least and solid.

I think I'll end up spinning it 180 degrees and opening up the root ball as much as I can while it's in the hole obviously. There's no picking this thing up. Or at least cutting the burlap to allow roots to get out more easily.

I wish there was a crystal ball for this type of thing lol. I love the tree and I'm just worried for it. Has to drive 3 hours round trip to get it so not an easy task to replace and again needed heavy equipment to even move it.

 

[Paradox]

Im guessing that the branch will die if its completely girdled.
All the cambium is gone so there is nothing left connecting the foliage to the roots.
The good news is there is another branch right below it that can take its place.

 

[AmyinNC]

Im guessing that the branch will die if its completely girdled.
All the cambium is gone so there is nothing left connecting the foliage to the roots.
The good news is there is another branch right below it that can take its place.

I'll have to take a closer look in there at the location of that lower branch. I see it in the photo but not sure if that's an optical illusion of where it actually is. Hadn't thought of checking it out to see what would or could end up replacing it. Ty for pointing that out.

I wish I had known about cambium when this happened. I would have tried to wrap it in an effort to keep it connect to see if it helped. We live and we learn. Just would have rather learned it on a much smaller and cheaper tree lol.

 

[Shibui]

If there is some cambium left connecting branch to roots there's a good chance the branch will survive and regrow the missing bark but looks like that branch is completely girdled which means no chance of recovery.
I suspect your worry about losing a big chunk of the tree is short sighted. Most people new to growing trees have similar ideas but the reality is that any space is usually very short term. Neighbouring branches grow to fill spaces, usually within a year or 2.
I would just cut the damaged branch off close to the trunk and sit back to wait for the tree to recover. Trying to spin it now that it is planted could easily do more damage good.

In its new home the roots shouldn’t be restricted. in addition to that, the soil in that burlap ball , is probably a mess. I recently planted a pretty big baby blue spruce, and inside the Root ball was completely clay.
I understand that spruces can grow in many soil conditions, but why not give it better conditions to grow?

Thousands of these trees are planted each year and the vast majority of them grow just fine. I know that putting clay soil in a pot is not good but putting the same root ball in the ground is completely different. Once the roots have grown out into the surrounding soil a relatively small pocket of clay will make very little difference. Ditto for the burlap wrapping. Roots will grow right through the burlap in a few weeks. Within a year the burlap will have completely disintegrated. Worms live that stuff. In a couple of years the wire will be the only evidence there was ever any wrap.

 

[Eckhoffw]

If there is some cambium left connecting branch to roots there's a good chance the branch will survive and regrow the missing bark but looks like that branch is completely girdled which means no chance of recovery.
I suspect your worry about losing a big chunk of the tree is short sighted. Most people new to growing trees have similar ideas but the reality is that any space is usually very short term. Neighbouring branches grow to fill spaces, usually within a year or 2.
I would just cut the damaged branch off close to the trunk and sit back to wait for the tree to recover. Trying to spin it now that it is planted could easily do more damage good.


Thousands of these trees are planted each year and the vast majority of them grow just fine. I know that putting clay soil in a pot is not good but putting the same root ball in the ground is completely different. Once the roots have grown out into the surrounding soil a relatively small pocket of clay will make very little difference. Ditto for the burlap wrapping. Roots will grow right through the burlap in a few weeks. Within a year the burlap will have completely disintegrated. Worms live that stuff. In a couple of years the wire will be the only evidence there was ever any wrap.

Yeah, you’re totally right!
I guess I was more shocked to see a pure clay ball in there. I may pull my tree later for container life.
I understand the industry knows much better than I, when it comes to success in planting trees!

 

[AmyinNC]

If there is some cambium left connecting branch to roots there's a good chance the branch will survive and regrow the missing bark but looks like that branch is completely girdled which means no chance of recovery.
I suspect your worry about losing a big chunk of the tree is short sighted. Most people new to growing trees have similar ideas but the reality is that any space is usually very short term. Neighbouring branches grow to fill spaces, usually within a year or 2.
I would just cut the damaged branch off close to the trunk and sit back to wait for the tree to recover. Trying to spin it now that it is planted could easily do more damage good.


Thousands of these trees are planted each year and the vast majority of them grow just fine. I know that putting clay soil in a pot is not good but putting the same root ball in the ground is completely different. Once the roots have grown out into the surrounding soil a relatively small pocket of clay will make very little difference. Ditto for the burlap wrapping. Roots will grow right through the burlap in a few weeks. Within a year the burlap will have completely disintegrated. Worms live that stuff. In a couple of years the wire will be the only evidence there was ever any wrap.

After cutting that branch off should I do anything to it at all? Just clean cut it and leave it be? Idk if the sap leaking down is a problem I should deal with or not.

I did take the affected branches and sort of bundled them up to see how much of a "hole" they'd leave when gone and it's not nearly as bad as I thought. This does make me calm down a little and most likely give up the idea of messing with turning it. Will the very small sprigs (4" or so) coming off the trunk end up turning into larger branches? Prob a stupid question, I am just not familiar with trees like this at all.

I appreciate your feedback.

 

[Shibui]

Modern pruning methods say cut just above the branch collar (swelling right at the junction of branch and trunk) and leave the tree to sort out healing the cut. The old wound dressings often proved more of a problem than leaving the cuts alone. Trees have been surviving branch damage (storms, animals, etc) for millions of years and they still can. Leaking sap is usually the tree's defence mechanism working. They don't usually bleed to death like humans.

Very small sprigs are the tree's fall back for just this sort of damage. It may take some time for those little ones to grow but they will now that the bigger one is not taking all the water and nutrients.

Pleased to hear you have reassessed and discovered the problem is not as bad as first seemed.

 

[AmyinNC]

I went ahead and cut the branch off and I had to laugh, I don't think I'd have even noticed if it had been done by someone else.

In my head this was going to be a catastrophic loss lol.

Thanks for talking me off the ledge and for the info everyone!

 

[Shibui]

You are most welcome.
Hope your tree enjoys its new home and does well for you.