Return to the Australian Native Plants Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
pittosporum repair
| | |
Posted by mick07 Vic (My Page) on Wed, Jul 23, 08 at 7:31
| Can your repair a pittosporum tree?
It is still pretty young, about 70cm tall.
It is snapped about half way up the trunk, but not completely severed. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: pittosporum repair
| | |
| Yes, you should be able to: If it was mine I'd drive a sturdy stake in about 6 inches or so from the tree, then carefully tie it with grafters tape above and below the break. Next I'd carefully wrap grafters tape around the trunk starting below the break, an inch or two, and working up overlapping the tape edges till you progress and inch or two above the break making sure the two ends are firmly in contact, in the same position as before the break. Repeat the procedure back down and maybe again up until the two parts are fairly firm. Give it a good water with a seawweed fertiliser (Seasol or something similar) and hope for the best. |
RE: pittosporum repair
| | |
Funnelweb is quite right - but is there another way of looking at this problem?
Why did it snap in the first place? Was it a weak and spindly tree which would be happier to go with the natural bit of self-pruning that happened to it? You could spend a lot of effort on a repair only to have a tree which might just break again somewhere else in the next strong wind.
Is your plant trying to tell you that it would rather be a low-branching plant with a bit more strength? Would you do better to cut it back neatly to a suitable growth point and let it do its own thing from there?
What kind of Pittosporum are we talking about, here?
Trish |
RE: pittosporum repair
| | |
| Well, if was by a sudden wind gust or whatever, and seeing as it's not very big at 70 cms tall, Mick07, Trish's suggestion is very sound. If there's a node (or bud) anywhere below the break you could just make a clean, slightly angled cut and let a fresh leading branch emerge. A lot less mucking around than with grafter's tape and stakes and stuff. |
|
|
|
|
