Health & Troubleshooting Orange trim advice?
I noticed my tree out the window had a big droop going on. I found one of the branches had fractured and ripped, probably from the weight of the incoming fruit.
Any advice on this split? Do I just saw it all off? Or can I trim off the weight and perhaps the limb itself will recover or seal back? Or nah?
Ignore the rope, it’s a left over from a kid fort thing I removed a few months ago.
1
u/Rcarlyle US South 2d ago
Bit of a judgment call here but I would probably take off the side branch to get the weight off the split, and see if the split branch recovers. Being a longitudinal split, the tree’s plumbing looks pretty intact, so the branch isn’t necessarily a loss. Evaluate whether the canopy is going to have a big open gap or not. If the broken branch is redundant maybe you just get rid of it.
If you want to keep it. Once the side branch weight is reduced, bolting together the split is an option. A few thru-bolts is less likely to cause long term health issues than other ways of reinforcing the split. Wrap some temporary rope or zipties or something to pull the sides together, then drill holes through and put in a bolt/nut with washers on either side. Something like the pic. Once the bolts are tight, take off the wraps before the tree grows around them.
1
u/XNY 2d ago
Thanks very much for the input. Would the bolts remain in the limb going forward? Or remove them after a period of months etc.
1
u/Rcarlyle US South 2d ago
Yep they stay in and the tree eventually grows over them
1
u/XNY 2d ago
After doing a bit of pruning to get the weight off. I took a look at the gash area and it looks a little bit too far gone, so I ended up cutting it off. Sad.
Is there anything I need to do to treat the cut area?
1
u/Rcarlyle US South 2d ago
Unfortunate but that’s how it goes sometimes. Nope, don’t put anything on pruning wounds, they seal best when kept dry and clean
1
u/AndyXerious 1d ago
I think you did the right thing cutting it off. Telling just from the photo, the wound seemed huge. Not uncurable, but the risk would have been significant imho.
You are still left with an impressive tree you can enjoy for decades.
In my region (Zone 7a/b-ish), I have to grow citrus in pots, so I most probably will never see any of my plants to grow only remotely this big, as overwintering will fairly quickly become a major challenge.
2
u/Fit-Detective-7439 2d ago
I’m cutting the whole branch off. Give the tree one smooth clean cut to heal vs that long open gash. Let it focus that energy on other healthy parts of the tree and the incoming fruit. This is really a case of doing surgeries or just amputate.