I have a young, grafted Changsha that is about 4 feet tall. This the one that I did not have staked - well, on tending my plants the other day I found that the top was too heavy for the main stalk (there could have been some help from one of my kids or a bird or wind or???) Anyway, the tree gave way and snapped about 7 inches above the graft. It didn't sever completely so i gently raised it back in place and tied it to the stake. There are still some small branches located below the break so all is not lost. However, if possible, I would like to save 95+ % of the foliage. The stalk is slightly less than the diameter of a pencil. There is no fruit on the tree.

Is there any thing I can do to help mend the wound? The leaves have not wilted or shown distress to this point.

Thanks, Greg

Hi Greg, Not something I have dealt with before, but I think staking it and securing it is the best thing you can do at this point. If you have some parafilm tape, you could wrap with that. The fact that it has not wilted probably mean it will heal on it's own with the help of the stake.

Thanks Skeet. I will try that and let you know how it goes. If not, I will have lots of cuttings to try and root!
Greg

Well, I have had to deal with it now!

I was just out playing with my dogs (Labs) and one knocked over a chair that broke a calamondin graft I had put on my lemon-- It was not completely torn off, but it broke right at the base--so I did what I recommended and wrapped it with parafilm tape.

If it starts to wilt, I will just cut it off and save buds for regrafting.

I really don't know if the two severed sections will naturally grow/graft back together or not. I suppose it all depends how clean the break was, and how exact the union between the two sections can be matched. One item for sure, is that the splice will have to be VERY secure, so that no movement between the top and bottom of the union occurs. It is not uncommon for container grown citrus trees to develop weak stems that are incapable of holding the tree erect, therefore requiring to be staked. Some growers attach a support to the trunk from the very beginning of a young tree, which insures that the trunk will be weak. When a seedling tree is 3-4 inches tall, or when a graft has grown 3-4 inches long, the tree should either be put outside in the wind, or placed in the path of a fan so that the air movement flicks the tree's trunk back and forth. This flicking motion is natures method of developing strong, firm trunks and branches. Container trees that are grown indoors, or otherwise in wind free locations, are deprived of the constant flicking back and forth, and deprived of the resistance against the wind, therefore the growth of protected trees is frail, and must to be staked. - Millet

I have repaired a good many trees by staking, taping and splinting the broken section together. Success depends on the type of break and where it is. Often the break occurs in a poorly formed crotch, etc.. If so it is best to just cut the broken portion away and start over. Regrowth doesn't take as long as one might expect.

Virtually all nursery grown trees are initially staked in the process of growing a straight trunk and properly trained tree. They are usually under some kind of shadecloth or other cover, to protect them from full summer sun and to retain warmth in cooler weather. They seem to get enough movement there to allow the trunk to thicken - the ones I have seen had good sturdy trucks.

Ned

Ned you are correct concerning the normal commercial nursery method for producing citrus, which is growing trees shaded and staked. However, this staking is not to develop/straighten the trees rootstock it is to train the grafted bud. Growing seedling trees without staking is a great way to save money and grow better quality trees. The keys are timing, spacing, improved root systems, proper nutrition, transplanting at the correct time, and leaving all side branches on as long as practical. These six factors are critical, or you get to stake and stake and tie and tie and wonder why your trees have poor stem diameter/caliper and weak root systems.

SPACING: If tree seedlings are too close together for only a few weeks, the grower may have doomed herself to staking. Full sunlight and movement of the young stems by wind, and proper nutrition are essential.

TIMING: Tree seedlings (and grafted trees) left in a container too long quickly grow tall and spindly due to restriction of the roots as the roots run out of space to grow, and they shade one another limiting light to the lower leaves and stems. Once the roots in containers reach the sidewalls and begin circling, space for further root development becomes limiting. It is like squeezing tooth paste out of the tube, all growth is straight up and there is no way to get it back into the tube.

LOWER LIMBS: Always leave the lower limbs on the young tree trunks as long as practical. Research has shown that leaves on the lower limbs contribute most to the development of trunk diameter and strength, plus ROOT GROWTH. Trees properly grown will have a trunk taper like a good deep sea fishing rod. A tree will not develop optimum trunk development without leaving the lower limbs attached AND allowing them sufficient light and space to function. The lower limbs can be cut from the tree after a year or two, with no harm.

CONTAINERS: The premium container (I believe the ONLY container) for developing healthy, full, maximum branched root systems is the air root pruning container. Roots grown in common nursery containers grow mainly as single strands with little side branching until the root tip reaches the container's side wall, and they begin the never ending circling around and around.

NUTRITION: Add 18-6-12 Osmocote (NO substitutes) plus STEM and dolomite (ONLY if the water supply has very little calcium) to the seed germinating medium. Start seeds ONLY in air root pruning containers. Top dress with Osmocote 19-6-12 when the seedlings are about 2 to 3 inches tall. Don't be confused, there is a huge difference between 18-6-12 and 19-6-12 Osmocote formulations. The objective is to have the seed germinate and the taproot reach the bottom of the air root pruning container where it is air-pruned, which stimulates the production of secondary roots, then when the secondary roots reach the opening in the sidewalls they are again air pruned which stimulates the production of tertiary roots, when this occurs, (normally at 2-3 inches tall), it is time to transplant and put outside in the wind, or in front of a fan.

WIND: As has been confirmed by much excellent research, you want the young stems to bend in the wind, as the more the stems flex the larger in diameter they become, assuming you do not have some other limiting factor. Much of this information was taken from Dr. Carl E. Whitcomb's book "Plant Production in Containers II" which is among the few VERY outstanding books that I have had the opportunity to read. I highly recommend Dr. Whitcomb's book. - Millet

I would like to further mention, for a hobbyist training a grafted tree, I find it more convenient, to cut the root stock approximately four to six inches above the bud. This leaves a stalk which can be used to loosely tie the new bud's growth to for training instead of driving a stake into the container. By tying loosely, the new bud can be trained and obtain the proper flexing required. I learned this method from Buddingman. - Millet

Greg, I hope your repair went better than mine-- I think the main branch I tried to repair is not going to make it. Last week I noticed the leaves beginning to wilt, so I cut 3 new shoots off and used them for bark grafting since they were only toothpick diameter. I put them on some new vigerous shoots on my lemon tree and so far they are still green. I hope they take--otherwise I will loose that cultivar--so far they look good.

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd share my recent branch repair experience. Thanks to Millet, JoeReal, and the countless other members that share their wisdom, for the first year I have a bumper crop on my citrus trees (thanks to recommendations on GA3 and KNO3). Apparently the bumper was too much for one of the branches on my Gold Nugget tree and it snapped the branch on my Birthday last week. I ended up bracing the branch with a redwood stake (kind of like a splint on a broken bone) and wrapping that green stretchy tape around the break in the branch. Remembering someone's advice about using rooting hormone to help grafts, I put a bit in the break before wrapping it ('don't know if this will help or not, but hey it's worth a shot). Anyway 1.5 weeks later, I still have all of the fruit that caused the branch to break and the leaves look just as good as they did before the break.

Now that we are receiving heavy rains and my patio umbrella just about blew through my sliding glass door, I'm supprised to see the branch still doing so well. My avacado tree doesn't look to good, but I'm just glad it came back from the January freeze that we had.

Phillip