CLOSING WOUNDS

Today I worked on closing a large wound on a kifu size trident maple that I have posted here before. I wanted to tackle this earlier last year but did not get to it so I decided to get ahead and do it now before spring is upon us. I suspect it was a big cut made to create the taper and the resulting wound was treated and handled rather poorly. And yes this was done back in Japan not here. As a result, the area rotted and the tree was unable to callus over. Below I am outlining a step by step process of handling large rotted wounds on your trees. At least the way I approach it.

This is the tree.






The wood was rotted and not only did the cambial layer failed to roll over as a result, but strangely it formed a bizarre "lip" growing upwards that was very unsightly. The wound is located at the back of the tree but it needed to be addressed ASAP. One challenge was getting to the wound and had to cut back a couple of branches in order to do so.








I cut away the strange "lip" and with the aid of a dremel and cleaned out the soft rotted parts until I reached solid wood.






With a can of compressed air, I cleaned the area of sawdust and debris.






The wound after being cleaned. It's quite large and deep!








It is customary in Japan to use concrete to fill large wounds. However, two-part epoxy found at any home center works great! This is the brand I use but probably others work just as well.






Mixing the two-part epoxy.






Now the large wound is completely filled and the epoxy is carefully shaped to follow the contour of the trunk line.

After the epoxy hardened off, I scored and exposed the cambium with a sharp knife all around the wound.






Afterwards it was sealed with cut paste. It is not necessary to cover the entire area with it, just the newly exposed cambial layer. It will probably take a few years before the wound closes but at least now it has a much better chance to do so.

Great explanation!

Perfect work, as we have come to expect from you.

But, OK, I am going to be the one to ask, even though I usually get that question . Why now?

Let me rephrase; I do not mean to question the timing, rather would like to understand whether there is an alternative motive than "I had time and when the leaves start to pop I might not".. You are also in a not-warm place. Do you expect the cambium to repond to your tickling now? Or will you get a slower response by doing it now, leading to "prettier" bark growing over?

leatherback said:

Perfect work, as we have come to expect from you.

But, OK, I am going to be the one to ask, even though I usually get that question . Why now?

Let me rephrase; I do not mean to question the timing, rather would like to understand whether there is an alternative motive than "I had time and when the leaves start to pop I might not".. You are also in a not-warm place. Do you expect the cambium to repond to your tickling now? Or will you get a slower response by doing it now, leading to "prettier" bark growing over?

Click to expand...

Jelle, no not really other than I expect a very busy spring and I needed to get to this work before it got pushed back yet again. I do not expect any harm to the tree and the cambium will start rolling as soon as the tree gets going. I seriously doubt the timing of doing it now vs doing closer to spring will cause a much "prettier" scar tissue. To that point I am experimenting a bit with wounds and how they close up using various products such as grafting tape, aluminum foil, etc and even seeing how some heal without any cut paste at all. There are a lot of theories and techniques out there and I am putting some to the test. I will report in the future on my own experiences.

MACH5 said:

Jelle, no not really other than I expect a very busy spring and I needed to get to this work before it got pushed back yet again. I do not expect any harm to the tree and the cambium will start rolling as soon as the tree gets going. I seriously doubt the timing of doing it now vs doing closer to spring will cause a much "prettier" scar tissue. To that point I am experimenting a bit with wounds and how they close up using various products such as grafting tape, aluminum foil, etc and even seeing how some heal without any cut paste at all. There are a lot of theories and techniques out there and I am putting some to the test. I will report in the future on my own experiences.

Click to expand...

I’m curious what level of pruning and clean up you do on your maples this time of year for no reason other than supply and demand (of time). Thanks regardless!

Thanks for sharing.
I especially was interested in the reinjuring the cambium surrounding the wound. Makes sense!

leatherback said:

Perfect work, as we have come to expect from you.

But, OK, I am going to be the one to ask, even though I usually get that question . Why now?

Let me rephrase; I do not mean to question the timing, rather would like to understand whether there is an alternative motive than "I had time and when the leaves start to pop I might not".. You are also in a not-warm place. Do you expect the cambium to repond to your tickling now? Or will you get a slower response by doing it now, leading to "prettier" bark growing over?

Click to expand...

MACH5 said:

Jelle, no not really other than I expect a very busy spring and I needed to get to this work before it got pushed back yet again. I do not expect any harm to the tree and the cambium will start rolling as soon as the tree gets going. I seriously doubt the timing of doing it now vs doing closer to spring will cause a much "prettier" scar tissue. To that point I am experimenting a bit with wounds and how they close up using various products such as grafting tape, aluminum foil, etc and even seeing how some heal without any cut paste at all. There are a lot of theories and techniques out there and I am putting some to the test. I will report in the future on my own experiences.

Click to expand...

In my experience, Tridents wake up earlier then other maples... I'm outside while dodging snow showers right now cutting back some sacrifice branches on some in ground projects and the cuts are immediately pushing sap. Serg lives in a somewhat colder climate then me, but we really aren't to far apart in that regard. Also, in my experience, these trees are almost too exuberant in their callus formation, so getting a slower response may not be a bad thing. Any way, it's a Trident and it'll swallow up that wound in short order... though I'd keep from uber cold temps just to be sure, as it's a pretty sweet tree .

MACH5 said:

Jelle, no not really other than I expect a very busy spring and I needed to get to this work before it got pushed back yet again. I do not expect any harm to the tree and the cambium will start rolling as soon as the tree gets going. I seriously doubt the timing of doing it now vs doing closer to spring will cause a much "prettier" scar tissue. To that point I am experimenting a bit with wounds and how they close up using various products such as grafting tape, aluminum foil, etc and even seeing how some heal without any cut paste at all. There are a lot of theories and techniques out there and I am putting some to the test. I will report in the future on my own experiences.

Click to expand...

Sounds like the same good reasons I have for working my trees throughout winter.

MACH5 said:

Today I worked on closing a large wound on a kifu size trident maple that I have posted here before. I wanted to tackle this earlier last year but did not get to it so I decided to get ahead and do it now before spring is upon us. I suspect it was a big cut made to create the taper and the resulting wound was treated and handled rather poorly. And yes this was done back in Japan not here. As a result, the area rotted and the tree was unable to callus over. Below I am outlining a step by step process of handling large rotted wounds on your trees. At least the way I approach it.

This is the tree.

View attachment 349314




The wood was rotted and not only did the cambial layer failed to roll over as a result, but strangely it formed a bizarre "lip" growing upwards that was very unsightly. The wound is located at the back of the tree but it needed to be addressed ASAP. One challenge was getting to the wound and had to cut back a couple of branches in order to do so.

View attachment 349326

View attachment 349327




I cut away the strange "lip" and with the aid of a dremel and cleaned out the soft rotted parts until I reached solid wood.

View attachment 349332




With a can of compressed air, I cleaned the area of sawdust and debris.

View attachment 349336




The wound after being cleaned. It's quite large and deep!

View attachment 349338

View attachment 349339




It is customary in Japan to use concrete to fill large wounds. However, two-part epoxy found at any home center works great! This is the brand I use but probably others work just as well.

View attachment 349341




Mixing the two-part epoxy.

View attachment 349343




Now the large wound is completely filled and the epoxy is carefully shaped to follow the contour of the trunk line.

View attachment 349344

Click to expand...

That is quite common on Japanese imports, especially Tridents. i think its where the nursery wants to get them out quickly for mass sale.

@MACH5

Thanks for posting this.
I am interested in following the progress of the wound as it heals.
Please do update as it goes!

MACH5 said:

Jelle, no not really other than I expect a very busy spring and I needed to get to this work before it got pushed back yet again. I do not expect any harm to the tree and the cambium will start rolling as soon as the tree gets going. I seriously doubt the timing of doing it now vs doing closer to spring will cause a much "prettier" scar tissue. To that point I am experimenting a bit with wounds and how they close up using various products such as grafting tape, aluminum foil, etc and even seeing how some heal without any cut paste at all. There are a lot of theories and techniques out there and I am putting some to the test. I will report in the future on my own experiences.

Click to expand...

I have read a couple blog posts about using an aluminum foil duct tape kind of product. The authors explained that the foil is much better at sealing out contamination, and keeping moisture in. They made claims about it healing wounds at a substantially faster rate. I've been wanting to try it, so if you haven't used it yet add that to the list!

quietobserver said:

I’m curious what level of pruning and clean up you do on your maples this time of year for no reason other than supply and demand (of time). Thanks regardless!

Click to expand...

Not much work at all at this time of the year. Heavy pruning I do in the fall or late winter. This is in regards to maples in general specially Japanese maples. There are other trees that are almost bullet proof like hornbeams that I think you can pretty much work on them anytime and it won't affect them at all. I lay off on all wiring until about late February up here in the northeast.

BobbyLane said:

That is quite common on Japanese imports, especially Tridents. i think its where the nursery wants to get them out quickly for mass sale.

Click to expand...

It was covered with some sort of rubbery substance I presume as a way to treat the wound. Somehow water got in it and rotted the area underneath. I discovered this afterwards when I pulled back and removed the latex-like coating.

JoeR said:

I have read a couple blog posts about using an aluminum foil duct tape kind of product. The authors explained that the foil is much better at sealing out contamination, and keeping moisture in. They made claims about it healing wounds at a substantially faster rate. I've been wanting to try it, so if you haven't used it yet add that to the list!

Click to expand...

Yes, trying that out as we speak. I have used it in the past and jury is still out for me.

Dav4 said:

In my experience, Tridents wake up earlier then other maples... I'm outside while dodging snow showers right now cutting back some sacrifice branches on some in ground projects and the cuts are immediately pushing sap. Serg lives in a somewhat colder climate then me, but we really aren't to far apart in that regard. Also, in my experience, these trees are almost too exuberant in their callus formation, so getting a slower response may not be a bad thing. Any way, it's a Trident and it'll swallow up that wound in short order... though I'd keep from uber cold temps just to be sure, as it's a pretty sweet tree .

Click to expand...

What he said

Dav4 said:

In my experience, Tridents wake up earlier then other maples... I'm outside while dodging snow showers right now cutting back some sacrifice branches on some in ground projects and the cuts are immediately pushing sap. Serg lives in a somewhat colder climate then me, but we really aren't to far apart in that regard. Also, in my experience, these trees are almost too exuberant in their callus formation, so getting a slower response may not be a bad thing. Any way, it's a Trident and it'll swallow up that wound in short order... though I'd keep from uber cold temps just to be sure, as it's a pretty sweet tree .

Click to expand...

Somewhat off topic but related, this is something I've never found a direct answer to. Mainly, the advantages/disadvantages of doing heavy chops on deciduous in summer, winter, or early spring (bud swelling). Specifically for projects in grow beds like you mentioned.

In the past, I've usually chopped and dug right at bud swell, but this seems to not be the best timing. For the repot yes, but the chop im not so sure. Things like wasted energy, wound healing, increased risk for pathogens like anthracnose, excessive sap loss, etc. get thrown around when discussing timing. But I have yet to see a somewhat definitive answer for this as far as maples or ume, for example.

For wound healing I doubt timing makes much or any difference. Here, when people clear out brush, overgrown branches, any cuts on big trees are done during the winter and sealed with a purple product.

JoeR said:

Somewhat off topic but related, this is something I've never found a direct answer to. Mainly, the advantages/disadvantages of doing heavy chops on deciduous in summer, winter, or early spring (bud swelling). Specifically for projects in grow beds like you mentioned.

In the past, I've usually chopped and dug right at bud swell, but this seems to not be the best timing. For the repot yes, but the chop im not so sure. Things like wasted energy, wound healing, increased risk for pathogens like anthracnose, excessive sap loss, etc. get thrown around when discussing timing. But I have yet to see a somewhat definitive answer for this as far as maples or ume, for example.

For wound healing I doubt timing makes much or any difference. Here, when people clear out brush, overgrown branches, any cuts on big trees are done during the winter and sealed with a purple product.

Click to expand...

In my experience, chops and heavy branch removal are best done either at bud break or mid to late spring after the first push of foliage has hardened off a bit. I've been cutting down some of my trident projects now mainly because I'm in the same boat that Sergio is in... too many trees needing attention at the same time .

Any thoughts about tinting the kwikwood so it is not as noticeable while you wait for it to callous over?

Lars Grimm said:

Any thoughts about tinting the kwikwood so it is not as noticeable while you wait for it to callous over?

Click to expand...

i thought that was part and parcel of sealing wounds and cuts, you will inevitably be using large slabs of paste, wound sealant, putty etc in a bid to rapidly heal wounds. now you want to hide the paste because you dont like how it looks?