Regarding Wound Healing

[aml1014]

I'm with you on Vaseline, it's only good for one thing.

Cut paste however, does do what it's supposed to.

Believe it or not...after witnessing some wound closures of old stuff I used the black spectracide spray stuff on awhile back, I am a fan of it too.
Probly more so than my tub of Japanese paste.
But you can't just spray it on a bonsai.
You gotta spray it in a dish and apply it with a toothpick.

For $2 on clearance...it's worth it.

Sorce

I use the paint on sprectracide, but the brush supplied is definitely to big so I use a q-tip. I'm also a fan of the cheap stuff lol.

Aaron

 

[Dav4]

Love this stuff...Duct Seal...found in the electrical dept at HD.

 

[AlainK]

I've had trouble of this sort. To me, it's probably due to heat stress in summer, then maybe some fungus gets inside when the bark is dead.

This is what I did on a grafted maple I keep in a big pot:

February 2013, I had cut off the the dead bark to expose the cambium and applied some Bordeaux mix on the dead wood at the end of the previous summer with a brush, like paint, then put some paste that went off when the callous formed:

October 2014. It was healing so well that I didn't refresh the cut and add paste:

May 2016:

I don't have any recent photos of the tree, but that's how it looked like in May 2015. It's about 1m50 (5 feet) from the base of the pot to the top:

 

[petegreg]

Nice dissectum Alain, not too many to see. It's a pity the trunks of these thicken sooo slowly.

 

[fredman]

Impressive healing and nice progression photos. When I look at it, I get the impression it didn't need any sealants.

 

[Adair M]

Yeah, I would rather drink the Bordeaux! Burgandy? Go ahead, and paint that on maples. Unless it's Le Romanee Conti or La Tashe, of course! Paint those on JBP!

Just kidding!!!!

 

[jcrossett]

Great thread.

 

[AlainK]

I started to get interested in bonsai - oh! 25 years ago!

I quickly abandonned the idea of working with Acer p. dissectum species...

 

[Timbo]

Because of the bark splitting?

 

[adamjcode]

why does everyone use cut paste to keep moisture in? My logical understanding is you want it to dry out and turn into deadwood so it creates a callus.

I understand that the primary benefit of wound sealant and cut paste is disease prevention, not moisture retention. Reducing the bleeding is a benefit, but not really the main goal.

I think this topic has been discussed in many other threads on this forum, but I could be totally mis-remembering. Do others have viewpoints/perspectives of the relative benefits of sealants and pastes?

 

[adamjcode]

This also shows that the dead wood is not repaired/regrown - in other words it does not heal. The damage is just left in situ (compartmentalized) and what we call 'healing' is really just growing new wood that may happen to cover the dead stuff (which is in the slow process of decaying).

Thanks for posting this! I recently purchased a large field maple that has tons of deadwood that will need to be carved out into a hollow. This cross section showing the deadwood on your maple and the new growth really helps me visualize the physiology going on that I will need to deal with when I get my Dremel out early next Spring

 

[sorce]

Do others have viewpoints/perspectives of the relative benefits of sealants and pastes?

Adair always says to apply cut paste fast to Azaleas.
I think a quick application on any tree is essential to prevent mold/disease.

I don't think paste can stop the bleeding.
I have ficus that pushes through paste, anything that "they say" would "bleed" to the point of damage to tree I would assume would also do this.

I never remember, except the last time, to spray cold water on a ficus to stop the bleeding.

I think that tiny bit of moisture retention/darkness....add tinfoil, is more a reason to use than disease prevention.
It helps the healing.

Sorce

 

[MACH5]

I have always use traditional cut paste and have liked it best over many other products. However, I do use the product Kiyonal which has a similar consistency to Elmer's glue. I use this whenever I crack a branch on a deciduous tree. I apply it immediately with a high degree of success specially on twigs and small branches.

 

[Jester217300]

I understand that the primary benefit of wound sealant and cut paste is disease prevention, not moisture retention. Reducing the bleeding is a benefit, but not really the main goal.

Cut paste does not prevent pathogens from entering the wound. If anything it traps existing pathogens on the wound surface. Most of the arguing on this site about cut paste is people talking apples to oranges. Almost everyone agrees on what to do and why, it's just a matter of if the information is presented in a way that is consistent with your existing understanding.

Small wounds are largely irrelevant. They will heal well with no protection and they will heal quickly enough with protection to not make the pathogen issue or rot a problem. Remember, plants fight off pathogens just like people do. Healthy plant, healthy immune response. That's why we don't work weak trees.

Large wounds are a bit different. Sealing a large chop completely traps pathogens and moisture toward the wound. This normally doesn't damage the tree itself but it does promote rot which means that the callus that you're trying to form won't be able to roll over the soft, pithy, rotten wood. So the wound won't "heal". I seal large cuts like this:

It prevents sap withdrawal and die back caused by the cambium drying out. That means that the wound will start to callus or "heal" more quickly. The center of the wound is exposed allowing the wood to dry which helps to prevent rot. Now we have the callus rolling on a hard, dry surface which is more or less optimal for "healing".

As far as pathogens are concerned I generally don't worry about it. The trees take care of themselves. I don't regularly clean my tools, although others do. What I do do is quarantine infected trees from healthy trees and treat them. When they're healthy again and pest free I return them to normal rotation.

As far as I'm concerned analyzing pathogens as it concerns to cut paste is moot. We're primarily worried about the cambium drying out and sap withdrawal, not pathogen infection. The secondary concern is preventing rot on a surface you want to preserve. Pathogens themselves don't even register as something that I think about as concerned to the overall health of the tree when making cuts and sealing wounds. But based on my anecdotal experience cut paste can help prevent die back and encourage callus formation earlier. That's consistent with my horticultural understanding so for those reasons I'll keep using it.