We purchased a home in NC 2 years ago. It’s got a beautiful mature Japanese Maple. The previous owner seemed to have butchered it with bad prunes, and it looks like some of them have rotting holes developing. No real way to clean these up as it’s so close to the trunk. What are my options here? Leave it alone? First thought would be to put some sort of sealant over the bits but I know that can just trap moisture. Any ideas?
by Medical_Grapefruit94
9 Comments
Just leave it alone.
With very few exceptions (like protecting oak from oak wilt), sealants are not a good idea.
At this point, it will be what it will be. There is some good wound wood on most of the cuts.
Slide number 3 is the only atrocious prune I see. The other two are decent enough. It’ll recover
These cuts really aren’t too bad except 3.
Do nothing and you’ll be fine.
That’s an aesthetically unappealing pruning routine. It’s lost all its natural habit. Sorry, I know that is not the question at hand but it struck me. Sealant won’t help.
People often understimate the damage pruning cuts can make. Not all species react the same. You can cut a 40 inch branch off a Pinus pinea and it’ll be fine, but make a 2 inch cut on a maple and it’ll develop a cavity.
Either way there is nothing to be done. The tree will likely be fine for many years.
Not long ago I was looking at some papers from Daniele Zanzi where they found the cause of death of some trees that failed and they investigated ultimately went back to pruning cuts made 24 years prior. This means that a bad pruning cut can take 20+ years to kill a tree. That’s a long ass time so who care right? But that also mean that that tree could have lived another 50 years if not for bad practices.
Especially in today’s world we are used to only look at immediate results and immediate consequences. No one has time for anything longer. But trees and fungi work on different time frames, and until we understand that, we will not be able to take proper care of our trees.
No sealant, be nice to your friend someone in their past was very mean to them. Pull the mulch away from the trunk at least 3 -6 inches. Don’t go so heavy on it, 2 inch depth is fine. Test the soil, they like a little acid. If you don’t want to deal with a fully mulched bed out to the drip line, give it a minimum of a 3 foot radius with good quality compost mulch mix. Watch your temps and water as needed. Careful with that if you’re on heavy clay. Learn more about your soil type
https://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/
Last, NC has a robust Extension system, look them up!
Next time hire a competent arborist. This is wild work.
Mulch as much of the area under the drip line as your aesthetical tastes will allow. Others have semi-correctly said you should do nothing; it’s true that you don’t need to target the above-ground part of the tree, but happier roots will help the tree to compartmentalize those wounds faster.
Toto, we are not in Japan anymore!