Like many in New England, we lost a lot of branches and trees to the snow and wind yesterday, including a big piece of this old magnolia tree. We plan to have a professional arborist come out and take a look, because we love this tree and would like to try and save it, but expect that it will take some time given the amount of tree damage in our area.
In the mean time, what I'm wondering is if there's anything that we can do for this large broken branch.
It's not resting on any other parts of the tree — the weight is almost all on the ground now — but the tree does have other broken branches that show black spots that could suggest rot, like you can see in the broken piece; see the last photo here for an example. We bought the house semi recently and the tree definitely hadn't been pruned in a while, so I don’t know healthy it is.
Is there anything we can do to protect the tree while we wait for a professional to come? And, are we being realistic in hoping this tree can be saved?
by starboard19
2 Comments
No, that branch will never repair itself. It should be removed, especially if there is anything valuable for that branch to land on. It’s not a crisis, though, you don’t need to get someone out this week to do it…unless, of course, it’s hanging over something valuable.
Prune it off at the trunk, using proper pruning cuts.