Split Japanese Maple - help

14 years ago

I'm cross posting this here, since it seems to get a little more traffic than the Japanese Maple specific forum. I have a small mounding Japanese Maple which was damaged by our recent massive snow storm in the midatlantic. There is a large split right at the crown (?) of the tree and one of the three primary branches was splitting off too. I don't know when the split occurred - sometime between Feb 6 and yesterday when i uncovered the tree.

See pictures before and after the 'repair' i made today. I used cotton rope (might be sash cord), and wound it VERY tightly. The split at the top is pulled nearly completely together, but as you can see from the pics, there's still a little 'crack' showing. I don't think I can pull it together any tighter. Do you think what i've done is good or do I need to adjust, use different materials, or try a different method?

Thanks for any advice you can give. We've had this tree for 5 years, and it's been in it's current location for the past four years. It is pretty well established.

-Chris

Here is a link that might be useful: Split maple and repair

Featured Answer

Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)

14 years ago

I concur with GG for the diagnosis, in my mind if it were me, as you are going to likely lose a significant chunk of this tree, might as well patch it up with wide rubber bands or bike inner tube and then a layer of cloth, then duct take to hold all together and see what happens. Might need a screw in there too, but that's a bit down the road. In the meantime, start scouring the nurseries for a suitable replacement, or wait til fall for fall color because there's a good chance you'll want to.

Dan

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Comments (7)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
14 years ago
Oooooh.....not good :-(

Trees start to compartmentalize and scar over wounds almost immediately. Generally, if the wound is not detected and carefully repaired very quickly - within 24-36 hours - the tree will have already started this process to heal itself and you will not get satisfactory regrowth of the tissue. Even if you do, that join will be weak and vulnerable to continued stress/damage in the future.

I might wait to see how the split portion looks later in the season when the tree begins to leaf out, but unfortunately I'd not hold out a lot of hope. The location of the split is critical. It looks more like a case for removal and replacement.
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Thyme2dig NH Zone 5
14 years ago
Hi Chris, In my Z5 garden I unfortunately have to deal with split japanese maples fairly regularly. We try to bang all the snow off them but sometimes it's just so much the damage has already been done. I have found that repairs can be made and the limbs can survive. The first year I found branches nearly ripped off the maples, I had no idea how long they had been like that. We had about 4 feet of snow on the ground and it wasn't until all the melting that I saw the damage. I really thought they were a lost cause because they didn't get repaired immediately, but we tried a fix anyway. You almost go into mourning when you see great trees damaged by mother nature.

What you have done will hopefully work. As long as the split was matched up exactly, and it is as tight as possible (which it sounds like it is).

What I have done in the past is find one of those rubber sink mats and large hose clamps. I first wrap the area with the rubber mat (cut into whatever size necessary) and then tighten the hose clamp around it. I will also use a bungee cord from the lower area that has been split to an upper branch. It usually takes two of us to make sure it is as tight as possible. It's not exactly pretty, but it has worked on a few of my trees multiple times. BUT, you have to be very careful as this season progresses with the new growth. I like using the hose clamps because you can loosen them as the tree is growing. I still have one on from a couple years ago that I just keep loosening slightly as the tree grows. I know that area is still weaker and it was such a bad rip (for the 2nd time) that I haven't been brave enough to take off the clamp yet.

Excuse the awful yellow cast in this photo...but the 'Viridis' japanese maple in the middle of the photo was repaired using that method a few years ago. It was the lower-left branch that was nearly ripped off the tree and it appears to be doing OK.

{{gwi:330053}}

I am still waiting to see if after many more years this branch, or the tree finally give up the ghost. I hope the tree has recovered, but I agree with Gardengal that this is a tough thing for a tree to recover from. All you can do is try and hope for the best. I do not kid myself that this tree may last 50 years with this kind of damage, but there's always hope!!

I find it amazing that I was able to "fix" this tree as well as others in my yard that had issues due to snow damage, yet a band of hungry voles took out one of my other large japanese maples. Those little buggers! It was to the left of the maple in question in this picture and really balanced out that border of maples. I opted to not replace it with a japanese maple. I think I'm learning my lesson to not plant japanese maples in my snowy environment. :o)

Good luck!
Susan
picea
14 years ago
I would cut the one branch off and then I would clap the trunk so the split was tight and screw it together with stainless steal screws. That is such a bad structural split I'm not sure it will hold together any other way.
dee_can1
14 years ago
I did exactly what you did, Chris, when my mounding Japanese Maple split from the snow. It healed very nicely. I kept a close watch on it, so that the trunk wouldn't grow around the twine that I used, and I cut the twine off when it looked healed up. Took a year, I think... I can't remember because it was quite a few years ago.

I'd take a photo of the healed wound, but I moved the tree a couple of years ago before it had entered dormancy, and unfortunately, it didn't make it (nothing to do with the previous injury, though).
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
i would cut it off below the lower branch.. and see what happens this year ...

with no insult to the root mass ... i would NOT be surprised at 2 to 3 feet of growth ....

which would need to be tended by reducing the number of new branches, etc ... beginning to shape it for the future ...

and if i didnt like the result.. i would replace it in fall at bargain time ..

it will be a great experiment ...

if you NEVER have another heavy snow.. you might succeed ... but sooner or later, whatever you do will fail

ken
tunatamer_live_com
12 years ago
I had the same issue that I just found last week I feel your pain. I love these trees I got hooked on the different varieties of the species when living in the Pacific Northwest. It's funny but I'm always looking for that perfect tree, and sadly this was my perfect tree to date thats been with me for fourteen years. The repair is just a delay of the inevitable, but you would do the same to anything you love like a dog or beloved pet. It sucks though... Good luck.