Repairing snow damaged trees As heavy, wet snow accumulated on the thickly branched red maple at the edge of my neighbor’s property, the Y-shaped junction where the tree forked into two trunks was severely stressed. Finally, the weight of snow was too great and half of the snow covered maple tumbled over, its fall broken only by a large dogwood just below the kitchen window. Fortunately, the tree was planted so that it did not fall into the house, but the following day it was apparent that the tree must be cut down.

The neighbor’s maple was victim to poor pruning practices many years earlier that allowed multiple trunks to develop, but often weaknesses in tree structure are recognized only after severe wind, ice, or snow events. My garden suffered substexposingal damage to deciduous trees and evergreens (a cryptomeria with a broken top, above), some a result of poor structure, but all due to the unusually wet snow. Today we’ll begin the process of sorting through the repairs, and deciding whether branches or entire trees can be salvaged. First, please understand that working with chain saws can be extremely dangerous, in particular working on snowy ground or on ladders needed to cut branches beyond your reach from the ground. There is a time to realize that a project is beyond your capabilities, and if your safety is in doubt then the time is right to call for help. Most of the repairs that I’ve accomplished on damaged trees in my garden today have been done with a folding pruning saw, a low cost tool with coarse teeth that cut easily through tree branches. A chain saw was used to cut large branches into sections, and hand pruners were used to clean up loose wood around the cuts. In cutting away damaged branches I will try to minimize further damage to the tree, and attempt to preserve the branch collar, a raised ridge between a branch and an offshoot. Injuries will heal more completely, and more quickly, if the collar is maintained. Damage that requires removal of the branch collar will often suffer from rot since the tree will be slow to heal. https://davermfarm.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/repairing-snow-damaged-trees/

I discovered one of our ornamental trees had a split crotch where two larger branches met. To cut off one of the branches or the whole part of the trunk completely would ruin the balance and asthetics of the tree. I needed to figure out a way to hold them together long enough without girdling the trunk so that the split could heal. If you have a split ornamental or fruit tree that you want to save, this is one way you can do it. https://www.hunker.com/13428626/how-to-repair-a-split-tree

Watch carefully for the placement and crotch angle of the branches. Narrow angle crotches are prone to splitting because the connecting bark cells do not join together. The wider the angle, the stronger the crotch. When pruning two narrow angle branches remove the smaller or least desirable branch by cutting outside the Branch Collar. Some varieties of young trees develop vigorous upright shoots from at or just below the soil level. These should be removed by pruning at their attachment point to the tree (sometimes requiring the removal of a small amount of soil). http://www.karensgardentips.com/garden-basics/how-to-prune-a-deciduous-tree-or-shrub/

the process of grafting, whereby one plant grows into another to share a single vascular system, is a naturally occurring phenomenon, humans have been using it to their advantage Paul has managed to successfully graft tissue from hundreds of apple plants onto a single tree