Healing a large wound

[leatherback]

Hi,

Last spring I picked up a large A Palmatum from a grower where it had suffered frost damage, and could no longer be sold for regular garden use. (They have a corned with damaged plants for odd people like bonsai fans). In any case.. 20-odd euro's and I had myself a stump.

Last year I took 2 layers of the top, each about 1 inch diameter. This year I will forcus on getting the large wound at the based healed over. The wound is over an inch wide, and maybe over 5 tall. See images for front and back of the base.

I am thinking of rooting some of the ide-branches at the base of the tree through layering (Basically, thin wire looped around the branch, and clamp it in the ground at the base, feed like there is no tomorrow). and grafting the branch at the rolling callus around the wound. Thus creating buds on the lower trunk, and a new set of roots along the base. Would that help the healing process? Or won't it be used by the plant for healing the large area and should I really keep the callus rolling (Cutting it and covering with cut past, like I did last summer)?

Any thoughts?

Jelle.

 

[Cypress187]

I don't think that will improve it faster or make it worse, i would stick with what u know.

 

[Eric Group]

You will only heal that wound my getting a lot of wood moving up the trunk... Layering stuff off the top, trying to get new buds lower... Are not really necessary. It would be ideal to have a strong branch right above it, but if not, just let what you do have above the damaged area grow!

You might not be able to heal it. If the roots below it are dead on that side, it am not sure it will close... Regardless, it will take a long time to heal and may never look normal...

 

[edprocoat]

You can ee where the bark is starting to roll over the wound already, problem is its not happening on the bottom inch or so of the tree. It will probably heal over fairly well in time (probably 5-7 years) but I doubt it will ever look natural nor heal over near the bottom which means it will be susceptible to rot there. Try using a wood preservative sealer like minwax at the bottom to prevent that from happening. Either way it should make a nice focal point on the trunk.

ed

 

[Eric Group]

The other thig you may want to do to encourage faster healing is remove that big knob of an old branch at the top, carve it flat with the rest of the trunk... The tree will take a lot longer to cover a knob sticking out like that...

 

[leatherback]

The other thig you may want to do to encourage faster healing is remove that big knob of an old branch at the top, carve it flat with the rest of the trunk... The tree will take a lot longer to cover a knob sticking out like that...

Thx!
That what I did this weekend, indeed

 

[ColinFraser]

Any updates to this? What's the rest of the tree look like?

 

[leatherback]

Thx for asking!

The tree is doing weel, and I feel that it is closing reasonably well. I will take it out of the current poting soil in spring, and put it in a flat container; Probably will have to take off some branches again, as they have gotten fat; I got over 5ft of extension this year.

This morning (Apologies for mediocre quality; cellphone shots):

 

[leatherback]

a comparison of a growing season:

 

[ColinFraser]

a comparison of a growing season:
View attachment 83220

Nice; thanks for the update.

 

[ColinFraser]

Apologies for mediocre quality; cellphone shots

It's not the fact that it's a phone that's the problem - it's which phone
I got my new iPhone 6s the other day, and it's got a shockingly nice camera:

 

[sorce]

a comparison of a growing season:
View attachment 83220

Damn LB.

Nice growing!

It looks to have a lip of tissue across the bottom too!? Just enough!

Couple more years! Couple more beers!

Sorce

 

[leatherback]

Nice growing!

Was quite pleased myself when I campored. It is always surprising to see the result of a season when put next to eachother. I find it a realy good thing to do. Odd how your mind seems to forget what a tree looked like before!

It looks to have a lip of tissue across the bottom too!? Just enough!

Yup, feels like there is enough live material left. Seriously considering adding a root to it. When I pull it out of the current container, I'll see what is below the soil.

Couple more years! Couple more beers!

Hmm.. Beers.. Will be having Bonsai Beer next weekend; Helping Tony at Bonsai Europe where they will serve pine-infused beer, brewed specifically for the event!

 

[Eric Group]

It's not the fact that it's a phone that's the problem - it's which phone
I got my new iPhone 6s the other day, and it's got a shockingly nice camera:
View attachment 83221

The image sensor on iPhones, Galaxy cell phones... Are great! The quality of the images they can create and store are fine... It is the LENS that leaves much to be desired...

 

[fredman]

Maybe take some more out of the inner wood with a knob cutter and/or soft carving.
The less area the bark has to roll over the faster it will cover. Just a thought...?

 

[j evans]

Quite a difference in just a year, great work!

 

[leatherback]

Maybe take some more out of the inner wood with a knob cutter and/or soft carving.
The less area the bark has to roll over the faster it will cover

Thx. I think that in this case it wont help much; The bark sticks out of the wound surface quite a bit already; It is a matter of widening now, not as much 'going over', if you know what I mean.

 

[leatherback]

In summer 2019 .. It had stalled healing..

In summer I was wondering why this tree was not closing the wound any further. Tapping it with a knife I realized it had gone soft. So I took the dremel to it and.. The deadwood pulverized. It was completely eaten from the inside!



Filled it, and now its waiting for next season to see whether the wound will close further. It will never be a pretty tree, but it is nice to practice on, and who knows. It might eventually have character!?

 

[leatherback]

As a comparison.. Overlay of the wound size in oktober 2015 (green) and in september 2019 (blue) on top of the 2015 picture.
Some closing, but not as much as I would have expected in 4 years.

 

[Rob_phillips]

Why try and heal it over ?
I think it looks awesome carve it out and seal it off with super glue to harden it and preserve it and put it as a feature in the design