Preparing for a big chop

[Pspsy]

I'm bothered that a big chop I'm going to do will waste all the energy stored in what's cut off. Is there any way to induce the tree to move some of its energy stores below the the cut point? Maybe putting a black bag over it for a few days?

 

[rockm]

I'm bothered that a big chop I'm going to do will waste all the energy stored in what's cut off. Is there any way to induce the tree to move some of its energy stores below the the cut point? Maybe putting a black bag over it for a few days?

Don't worry about "wasting" energy. The energy is in the roots, for the most part. Black bag isn't going to do anything.

 

[dbonsaiw]

I'm bothered that a big chop I'm going to do will waste all the energy stored in what's cut off.

It would be helpful to know where you are and what type of tree we are dealing with. First off, make sure you chop at the proper time. The tree will lose whatever energy is stored in the part that is cut off, but there will be plenty of energy in the roots to get the tree growing again.

Is there any way to induce the tree to move some of its energy stores below the the cut point?

Again, no worries on the energy loss. But, to an extent, dormancy accomplishes this.

Maybe putting a black bag over it for a few days?

That will do nothing. (we only brown bag a tree when the top is ugly but the nebari is nice - LOL bonsai joke). You are not going to induce a dormancy effect his way.

 

[Dav4]

Knowing your location and the exact species you’re working with would be helpful. With that being said, the most successful chops are done on healthy material and at an appropriate time in the year. Most deciduous trees respond very well to chops at the beginning, or in the middle of the growing season, again, assuming that they are healthy, and that assumes that they grew strongly the year before the planned chop will occur.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

As mentioned above - a healthy vigorous tree responds better to trunk chopping. Fertilize well into autumn. Chop in spring will result probably the most prolific back budding. Internodes may be somewhat long.

Chopping in early or middle summer, will result in few number of buds, but the new shoots will tend to have slightly shorter internodes compared to a spring chop.

For many species, a early or middle summer, complete defoliation can stimulate back budding too. But don't do this to single flush species. This is one of the reasons we ask where you are and what species of tree you are growing. Answers have a lot of "conditional clauses".

 

[Pspsy]

This is a clementine started from a polyembyonic seed during the pandemic lockdown. Two years ago it resided in my kid's kinderganten class and it survived. This year a mom needed a plant for her kid so I thought wouldn't it be nice if it could go back. See the second picture for what it looked like at the end of summer. I happened to see the plant a few weeks later and it was not well. When I tried to water it, the teacher said, no worry, we water on Friday. Hence the state of the plant today, in the first pic.

I'm not mad though, because the leaf drop is nothing compared to what I've been putting off. (But what happened to the plant's energy stores during its drought?)

Should I cut big now? I do have good LED grow lights.

 

[Pspsy]

I'm gatheing the only preparation is timing it right. What odd do you all give this big chop victim?

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/uk-tree-cut-down-1.6981755