Fixing Those Torn Trees
by Bill Taylor

Were limbs ripped from any trees on your street or from a nearby orchard? While your main concern may be what to do with the downed branches, a greater concern from the tree's point of view is the torn remains of the limb. This is possibly a future source of pooling water and rot, and at best will cause the tree extra stress as it attempts to grow over the now-dead tissues. But don't panic - there is a solution.

Take a close look at the texture of the bark around the junction between limb and trunk (this assumes some bit of limb remains). You will notice a wrinkly appearance in a sort of collar around the limb (or what remains of it). On some trees it may look akin to the wrinkly skin of an elephant. This area is called the branch collar. It contains the cells that will inhibit organisms which want to decompose the wood and the cells which grow rapidly to cover over exposed dead tissue. In addition, there may be a straight wrinkly ridge starting at the top of the branch collar and going down and slightly inward as compared with the outside of the trunk, when the limb stub is viewed from the side. On an older limb, this may be more apparent than the branch collar. It is called the branch bark ridge.

Draw a line along the branch bark ridge and another along the outside of the trunk on the limb stub side. There is an angle which these lines make from their junction at the top of the stub. Now make a third line starting at the junction and going out (crossing the limb) at the same angle. This is where you want to cut. When you are done, the top of the stub will be flush with the trunk and the bottom will be out a little from the trunk. NOTE that if there is a lot of weight on the limb, that you need to do the cut in 3 stages. First, make an undercut a few inches out from where the final cut will be. This cut only needs to go 1/4 of the way through. Then make a second cut, all the way through, from above and a few inches further out, so when the limb falls it won't rip the bark all the way along its underside. Make the third cut to finish.

While any saw will work, we recommend a high-quality one such as a Felco pruning saw. Do not put any dressing on the cut surface.

Finally, some storm damage may rip the heart out of the trunk, rather than leave a stub. In this case, you may need to, in a few years, apply a vegetable oil to the dried-out dead heartwood to prevent rot. Don't do this now as it might hinder the tree's own response and healing process.

If no one will take your limbs, the twigs and branches can be cut up small for mulch and the larger pieces used for posts, stakes in the garden, or firewood.