Species Study - Crataegus aestivalis

[Cajunrider]

No wonder you been busy lately...

I am 1/3 of the way through with pruning my Mayhaws. The aggressive cut back of 75-80% is meant to stimulate new growth for ramification. Now that the roots are established in the pots, I am doing clip and grow. I am planning to do at least one more clipping in late July. All the Mayhaws now are 4' to 5' tall before pruning.

 

[Cajunrider]

I am almost done with pruning my Mayhaws. I think I will prune them more often in the near future. I am hoping to get 2 branch-splits per year because we have two growing seasons. The first year was for recovery from collection. Last year was for first major styling. This year will be the first year I am going for ramification.
I am practically hoarding my Mayhaws. These were fruit producing size trees. I lost 30% of them from collection and have cared for them for two years. I know that I will get rid of some in the coming years, but I have zero idea what they are worth. I do know that yard tree half the size of mine are sold for $150 at the local nurseries. Those have straight trunks with hardly any taper. The only point of reference I have is Zach's small Mayhaws that he listed for $250.

 

[Cajunrider]

Interesting thing:
Last year I allowed the trees to grow freely and the thorns hardened into sharp spikes. A week ago I drastically pruned all my Mayhaws down to two sets of leaves at every branch. The long young thorns quickly transformed to branches and grow buds on every branch that does not have a terminal bud.

 

[Cajunrider]

Interesting thing:
Last year I allowed the trees to grow freely and the thorns hardened into sharp spikes. A week ago I drastically pruned all my Mayhaws down to two sets of leaves at every branch. The long young thorns quickly transformed to branches and grow buds on every branch that does not have a terminal bud.
View attachment 548053View attachment 548054View attachment 548055

It's also worth noting that all branches formed from thorns are perpendicular to the original branches. If the thorn branch can grow big, this can be a way to introduce sharp bends to the tree. If this works out, in the future I may deadhead a branch to a thorn then pinch off other buds at the base of the thorn and let the thorn become the main branch with a sharp 90 degree change in direction.

 

[Joe Dupre']

Interesting thing:
Last year I allowed the trees to grow freely and the thorns hardened into sharp spikes. A week ago I drastically pruned all my Mayhaws down to two sets of leaves at every branch. The long young thorns quickly transformed to branches and grow buds on every branch that does not have a terminal bud.
View attachment 548053View attachment 548054View attachment 548055

Cool. I've found my honey locust does the same thing.

 

[Cajunrider]

Beautiful response to the hard cut back.

 

[Cajunrider]

I checked a lot of the large chop on these Crataegus and found them to heal very slowly. For a whole season of decent growth, I only gained 1/16" roll at the edge of the cuts. For the small clips at the growing branches, I get about 1/8" scar roll. At this rate, it will take decades to completely cover, which is not a real possibility really. I think I am going with carving and treating with lime sulfur instead.

 

[Kanorin]

I checked a lot of the large chop on these Crataegus and found them to heal very slowly. For a whole season of decent growth, I only gained 1/16" roll at the edge of the cuts. For the small clips at the growing branches, I get about 1/8" scar roll. At this rate, it will take decades to completely cover, which is not a real possibility really. I think I am going with carving and treating with lime sulfur instead.

I think working with bald cypress has spoiled you a bit...this amount of scar rolling is closer to the average tree species. You could also try some cut pastes that contain callus-forming hormones in them for any that you really would prefer to heal. It might double or triple the rate.

 

[Joe Dupre']

I checked a lot of the large chop on these Crataegus and found them to heal very slowly. For a whole season of decent growth, I only gained 1/16" roll at the edge of the cuts. For the small clips at the growing branches, I get about 1/8" scar roll. At this rate, it will take decades to completely cover, which is not a real possibility really. I think I am going with carving and treating with lime sulfur instead.

For ME, I don't really consider a scar healing over. I'm in the Walter Pall school. I accentuate the scar and consider it as part of the life story of the tree. A perfectly round healed-over scar still looks like a scar where someone cut off part of the tree. Chocolate and vanilla.

 

[Cajunrider]

As expected, the hawthorns are the earliest trees to bud in my back yard. All other species are still in deep sleep.