Rescuing Crabapple

[mplishka]

Hey all,
The winter didn't seem particularly harsh up here, but almost all trees took a hit. Unfortunately deer also came into the bonsai area and started stripping bark and branches off of trees leaving, among others, a mangled and effectively girdled crabapple. I cut it back to keep it from bleeding to death once Spring came (tried rooting the few salvageable chunks but no dice) and put cut paste on the stumps but still am not seeing shoots of any type this spring. One root near the surface seems to have new root growth but I'm concerned that the pot drainage, which was well balanced when there was a tree with leaves and it took up water well, now doesn't seem to dry out quick enough and is staying quite damp. I don't want the roots to start rotting and I'd like to give the root system a fighting chance to drive some buds out. What would you recommend?

I'm particularly fond of this as it started as an air-layer from a crabapple I climbed and played upon as a child. I was hoping to re-layer some branches for my brothers eventually but now I just want to save the tree. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!!!
~Peace~

 

[Clicio]

The winter didn't seem particularly harsh up here

Hi, welcome!
Perhaps if you update your profile with your location, and post some pictures of the problem, it could be easier to find precise answers, I guess.

 

[mplishka]

Hi, welcome!
Perhaps if you update your profile with your location, and post some pictures of the problem, it could be easier to find precise answers, I guess.

Hi Clicio,

Apologies. I am located in the USA, on the border of Illinois and Wisconsin 7 miles west of a line drawn between Chicago and Milwaukee. There aren't any pictures that will tell anything as there is only a stump and nebari. Although, upon closer inspection there may be something trying to pop through a node on the trunk stump but can't tell yet.

Thanks for responding!

 

[Clicio]

upon closer inspection there may be something trying to pop through a node on the trunk stump but can't tell yet.

Good.
If there is signs of healthy buds, there is hope.
Don't let the soil get damp all the time, water less if necessary, and don't fiddle with the tree until growth is going strong again.
Good luck!

 

[mplishka]

Good.
If there is signs of healthy buds, there is hope.
Don't let the soil get damp all the time, water less if necessary, and don't fiddle with the tree until growth is going strong again.
Good luck!

Thx!

 

[queenofsheba52]

Welcome to Bnut, mplishka! Please let us know how this very sentimental tree fares in the next few months.

 

[mplishka]

Welcome to Bnut, mplishka! Please let us know how this very sentimental tree fares in the next few months.

Will do!! Thanks for responding!

 

[BrianBay9]

There are some other Bnuts that must be very close to you - near IL/WI line near the lake. Hopefully they'll chime in with specific advice for your area and weather.

 

[CasAH]

@Leo in N E Illinois lives near you, hope he can help.

 

[M. Frary]

Girdled as in the bark stripped off all the way around the trunk?
If that's what happened it's dead above the girdle.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@mplishka
I sent you a PM, give a call if you like to talk.

 

[mplishka]

Girdled as in the bark stripped off all the way around the trunk?
If that's what happened it's dead above the girdle.

Tiny fragments here and there, but couldn't follow a contiguous stripe of bark to the upper branches. That's why I cut it back. There were so many dead ends that when the sap started running all that linear length of ripped edge would bleed. Now there is just a "Y" trunk and some really nice nebari .

 

[mplishka]

@mplishka
I sent you a PM, give a call if you like to talk.

Thanks Leo, will do.

 

[mplishka]

Hi all!! I just realized I never shared pictures of the original tree, or how it is now. Multiple shoots came off the trunk as well as off the roots. In fact there were some really interrsting shoots the came off the end of the roots where they had poked through the surface so that in a way, they were working in reverse once the branches shot up. The other deer ravaged trees aren't doing as well as this one. I still need to figure out what to do with a maple that the deer literally ate one side of only removing all thicker branches as well as leaves.