JudyB
Queen of the Nuts
LOL, I must be chopping off a lot more branches than you, I've gone thru almost a whole tub this season!
Plumbers putty
- Thread starter rockm
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MACH5
Imperial Masterpiece
coh
Imperial Masterpiece
This is the stuff I found at Lowes in the electrical department (slightly different packaging, though):
http://www.gardnerbender.com/en/ds-130
Based on their msds, it seems relatively harmless (scroll down to "Duct Seal Compound", DS-130):
http://www.gardnerbender.com/en/resources/gb-product-data/material-safety-data-sheets
http://www.gardnerbender.com/en/ds-130
Based on their msds, it seems relatively harmless (scroll down to "Duct Seal Compound", DS-130):
http://www.gardnerbender.com/en/resources/gb-product-data/material-safety-data-sheets
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
The duct seal says "not for use outdoors" Do water droplets make it burst into flames? 
Nybonsai12
Masterpiece
I use the traditional paste in the little tub. In the scheme of bonsai costs for me, I don't find it to be all that expensive, it does the job and lasts me a fair amount of time. I'll keep using it unless play doh becomes a usable option because I have enough of that to give everyone on the forum a tub!
coh
Imperial Masterpiece
I mainly picked up the cheaper duct seal to use on plants I'm developing in the ground...some big cuts on those, takes up a fair amount cut paste. But you're right, in the overall scheme of things...not a big expense, comparatively. Still, nice to have another option in case you run out of the other stuff and can't replace it right away.
I haven't noticed any problems with it bursting into flames (and we've had plenty of rain this season).
I haven't noticed any problems with it bursting into flames (and we've had plenty of rain this season).
Smoke
Ignore-Amus
You have the "fun factory" too.
Dav4
Drop Branch Murphy
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Fwiw, linseed oil is
I just got a brick of this at Home Depot and gave it a shot.… First impressions are pretty good!! Only $2.98...Thanks for the tip.
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Amazingly,Nick was using duct seal 35 years ago.
qwade
Shohin
I am strongly in the camp of use nothing. The tree had mechanisms in place to deal with these wounds---long before we tried to control them.
barrosinc
Masterpiece
wounds in nature usually don't completely heal over.
Smoke
Ignore-Amus
Your joking right?
Giga
Masterpiece
While tree's heal on their own, I find wound sealers heal them that much faster. There is a science behind it but I'm just to lazy right now to go into it.
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
This is a very broad statement. It can help, it can also be useless. Over the years, I've found that sealants can actually SLOW healing or prevent callus tissue from covering a wound. I've also found that improperly used sealants can accelerate rot. There is also science for NOT sealing wounds. Here's a start, but do a search on Alex Shigo
http://www.thepruningschool.com/Articles/shigo.htm
The science to properly healing wounds isn't in what you put over it. It is in how you prune the tree.
barrosinc
Masterpiece
I did not see trees do not heal. I said do not completely heal over.
Huge scars are usually visible in trees all around... at least I see them everywhere.
They do heal, but a large broken branch will leave a scar. If not, we wouldn't have to reopen wounds.
Dav4
Drop Branch Murphy
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Right, but the scar you see is the callus the tree produced to wall off the injury. That's how trees "heal", by compartmentalizing and walling off the injury. Fwiw, I've found that the cut paste wound sealants will absolutely accelerate callus formation on deciduous trees. I don't bother applying cut paste on conifers unless I either deliberately or accidentally partially break a branch that I want to keep.
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
I agree.
Certainly pine, spruce and fir produce a resin bleed which is natural cut paste (and which tends to lift off any cut paste applied). Deciduous generally don't produce resin in response to wounding. Some covering that acts as a water barrier will keep the exposed cambium from dessicating (dessication affects some die back of the cambium and, in effect, enlargens the wound). 'Pastes' are convenient for pruning wounds and the like, but damp sphagnum, saran, visqueen, parafilm, silicone tape are effective as well.
Within 10 - 15 days, the cambium will have reformed an epidemal layer (or callus as we know us) and the artificial covering will no longer provide any benefit. Once the epidermis is reformed, the wound eventually closes by the same growth processes as the trunk/stem thickens. The 'callus' does not roll over the wound. Occasional re-wounding does not 'free' the callus from some friction with the wood surface in the cut.
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
A post script: If there is a magic sauce that actually makes a wound heal (close) faster, it should also make a stem thicken faster if it (the magic sauce) is slathered around the stem.
Smoke
Ignore-Amus
. The 'callus' does not roll over the wound. Occasional re-wounding does not 'free' the callus from some friction with the wood surface in the cut.
Can you explain more about "not rolling over" a wound. What exactly does it do? Is this callus rolling over the old dried wood?
This is an example of a completely closed wound on a pear tree.
