North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Mark_Bugaieski@rlicorp.com]

Hi Robert,

I'll describe a technique I read about years ago and have used a few times
with great success.  It works better on a younger tree with a central
leader or "Y"...

Decide which branch/leader to save and take the second one and cut it off
4-6 inches above the split - then use electrical tape to tape the leader to
the stub of the second branch, pulling the branch you left as full upright
as possible.  You leave the tape on and by the time it rots off, the leader
should be upright and you can prune the stub appropriately.  In my
experience, within a few years, the gouge of the split trunk heals over.

For larger trees, I've seen people drill a hole all the way through the
trunk, insert a bolt and crank the nut down to draw the tree together - you
just leave the bolt in permanently.

Mark

Message: 5
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 05:02:26 -0800 (PST)
From: rob hamilton <lostman_amiga@yahoo.com>
Subject: [NAFEX] tree damage
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Message-ID: <20050207130226.24894.qmail@web54708.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Well it seems that our last ice storm has produces
small in the  split in the trunk one of my loquat
trees - right down the middle.

I discovered this a few days after.  I tried to bring
the branches back together to close the wound and
wrapped the wound with some packing tape for the
moment.

I was wondering if anyone has some suggestions on what
I should do.

Robert