# Torn away limb



## Jace (Dec 20, 2011)

Large Oak tree. Big truck drove thru and ripped large limb off.
The only treatment in my opinion, is a wire mesh(1/4"?) to keep out woodpeckers and larger insects like borrers.
If there is something else please tell me.
How is the best was to attach the mesh to last quite a few years, as it will take a long time to heal? If it ever does...


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## PJM (Dec 20, 2011)

I think all I would do is to try and clean up the wound. Remove any loose or detached pieces, including bark.


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## Ed Roland (Dec 20, 2011)

Are woodpeckers, like certain insects, drawn to fresh wounds ? I don't think so. Borer attack in late December is unlikely. I agree with PJM, just clean it up and leave it be.
:msp_thumbup:


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## Jace (Dec 20, 2011)

Ed Roland said:


> Are woodpeckers, like certain insects, drawn to fresh wounds ? I don't think so. Borer attack in late December is unlikely. I agree with PJM, just clean it up and leave it be.
> :msp_thumbup:




What about after it warms up, tho? When "sap flow" comes. Would not insects be attracted to the wound, and thern the woodpeckers attracted to the insects?

Thanks, both of ya, for taking the time to reply.


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## Ed Roland (Dec 20, 2011)

Compartmentalization + time = tyloses. Vessles plugged and whatnot. Monitor for issues in Spring. I would worry more about infection rather than infestation. Strive for optimum cultural conditions for best results.


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## saw dog (Dec 20, 2011)

Hi Jace
There is a way to treat your wounded tree that I learned from my Grandmother many years ago.
She was a life long arborist.and had a large old time apple orchard. She prized each and every one of those apple trees, some over 70 years old and still produced large crops each year.
Like someone mentioned earlier clean up the wound and use fresh cow manure to cover the affected area, apply it as heavy as you can. She used a wooden paddle to do this, using the paddle to apply the manure and smooth it over the intire affected area to seal it. this is called scalding the wound. It will heal completly using this method. I know it may sound odd and gross but I will guarentee you It works. There were times when she would lose a big limb due to heavy snow or to many apples, and she would treat the wound this way and in a year it would completly heal over and you could hardly see where it had ocured. Good luck, hope this helps. You may need to reapply a second manuer plaster in the spring if it is not completly sealed by the start of the growing season.


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## treeseer (Dec 21, 2011)

saw dog said:


> ...clean up the wound and use fresh cow manure to cover the affected area, apply it as heavy as you can. She used a wooden paddle to do this, using the paddle to apply the manure and smooth it over the intire affected area to seal it. this is called scalding the wound. It will heal completly using this method. I know it may sound odd and gross but I will guarentee you It works. There were times when she would lose a big limb due to heavy snow or to many apples, and she would treat the wound this way and in a year it would completly heal over ...


Well I sure wish someone documented this treatment! Sounds too good to be true, but I have heard similar results from poultices using moss and other materials. Let's all agree that the bottom of the wound needs to be trimmed to leave a smooth edge. Not sure the manure method will work on oaks like apples.

Re sealing the hole with mesh, go ahead if it will stop the worrying. Spray painted a dark color and tacked down on the edge (the white wood) might even speed closure in the long run. Looks likely to be a permanently open cavity otherwise.


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## Jace (Dec 21, 2011)

treeseer said:


> Well I sure wish someone documented this treatment! Sounds too good to be true, but I have heard similar results from poultices using moss and other materials. Let's all agree that the bottom of the wound needs to be trimmed to leave a smooth edge. Not sure the manure method will work on oaks like apples.
> 
> Re sealing the hole with mesh, go ahead if it will stop the worrying. Spray painted a dark color and* tacked down on the edge (the white wood*) might even speed closure in the long run. Looks likely to be a permanently open cavity otherwise.




If I was to go ahead and do the mesh, should I cut out a piece of mesh the same shape as the wound, and tack it to the outer edge? Or should the mesh go beyond the wound? 
Thanks for the detail....


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## buzz sawyer (Dec 21, 2011)

saw dog said:


> Hi Jace
> There is a way to treat your wounded tree that I learned from my Grandmother many years ago.
> She was a life long arborist.and had a large old time apple orchard. She prized each and every one of those apple trees, some over 70 years old and still produced large crops each year.
> Like someone mentioned earlier clean up the wound and use fresh cow manure to cover the affected area, apply it as heavy as you can. She used a wooden paddle to do this, using the paddle to apply the manure and smooth it over the intire affected area to seal it. this is called scalding the wound. It will heal completly using this method. I know it may sound odd and gross but I will guarentee you It works. There were times when she would lose a big limb due to heavy snow or to many apples, and she would treat the wound this way and in a year it would completly heal over and you could hardly see where it had ocured. Good luck, hope this helps. You may need to reapply a second manuer plaster in the spring if it is not completly sealed by the start of the growing season.



Did this treatment affect the taste of the apples? :msp_tongue:


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## saw dog (Dec 22, 2011)

Hey Jace
Continueing to follow your thread and thought I would jump back in with a thought or two. If you were to tear the skin of your elbow would you use thumb tacks to attatch a bandage to your elbow and add more injury to the area or would you apply Bactrium or some other healing agent to the wound. By nailing mesh to the injury on your oak tree you are doing the same thing, you are doing nothing to help the tree to heal just adding more injury. It sounds as if you are truly conserned about the health of the tree, if this is the case, listen to what I have shared with and clean the affected area up and apply the manure plaster as I advised and it will heal completely with no open cavity. Just the thought of pushing those thumb tacks in to your elbow hurts doesent it. Just a thought and my way of thinking. Hope this is helpful to all of those in the tree care buisness. Many of these old arborist cures have been lost and forgotten about over the years and this is a true shame and loss. Best of luck to you.


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## saw dog (Dec 22, 2011)

buzz sawyer said:


> Did this treatment affect the taste of the apples? :msp_tongue:



Hey buzz
Do not mess with the old Indian, those applys tasted great. Injoyed your come back question, displays your sharp witt, You must be Indian also. A working mind is a sharp mind.


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## Jace (Dec 22, 2011)

saw dog said:


> Hey Jace
> Continueing to follow your thread and thought I would jump back in with a thought or two. If you were to tear the skin of your elbow would you use thumb tacks to attatch a bandage to your elbow and add more injury to the area or would you apply Bactrium or some other healing agent to the wound. By nailing mesh to the injury on your oak tree you are doing the same thing, you are doing nothing to help the tree to heal just adding more injury. It sounds as if you are truly conserned about the health of the tree, if this is the case, listen to what I have shared with and clean the affected area up and apply the manure plaster as I advised and it will heal completely with no open cavity. Just the thought of pushing those thumb tacks in to your elbow hurts doesent it. Just a thought and my way of thinking. Hope this is helpful to all of those in the tree care buisness. Many of these old arborist cures have been lost and forgotten about over the years and this is a true shame and loss. Best of luck to you.



Of course, if I cut my arm I wouldn't put fresh cow crap on it either haha. But I understand what you mean. I will try it, because I want to see what happens. Kinda like the ol tobacco on a wasp sting adage. 
It is not my tree. If it works, maybe I'll start canning it up and sale it as tree healer, see if I can get rich. Ill have to find a souped-up term for crap to put on the ingredients tho, so they don't get my secret.

I don't have a problem trying these lost ideas of the past.

I'll let everyone know about the tree healing.


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## Jace (Dec 22, 2011)

Should a hard rain wash it off after it dries, I guess it would need reapplied?

Not sure the difference in this treatment and a pruning sealer....but Ill still try it...


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## saw dog (Dec 22, 2011)

Hi Jace ( me again )
Truly injoyed your come back, very witty. Then got to thinking about things that happened in my childhood. We were very poor, about all we had was each other and never had shoes in the summer. One day while playing around the tool shead I steped on a rusty nail and ran it completly through my foot, hurt to beat the mand but had no money for medical attention. That very evening while rounding up the old milk cow I steped in a pile of cow manure with that foot, next morning the sowerness was all gone and never did get infected, so what do you think. Glad to hear that you are going to try it. You won,t be sorry and am shure that you will be pleased with the outcome.


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## buzz sawyer (Dec 22, 2011)

Jace said:


> Of course, if I cut my arm I wouldn't put fresh cow crap on it either haha. But I understand what you mean. I will try it, because I want to see what happens. Kinda like the ol tobacco on a wasp sting adage.
> It is not my tree. If it works, maybe I'll start canning it up and sale it as tree healer, see if I can get rich. *Ill have to find a souped-up term for crap to put on the ingredients* tho, so they don't get my secret.
> 
> I don't have a problem trying these lost ideas of the past.
> ...



How about "Contains 100% pure organic bovinated vegetation?"

Saw Dog, thanks for taking my comments lightly. Gotta have a little fun when you can.
I don't doubt for a moment that this works and if I ever get the chance I would try it.


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## saw dog (Dec 22, 2011)

buzz sawyer said:


> How about "Contains 100% pure organic bovinated vegetation?"
> 
> Saw Dog, thanks for taking my comments lightly. Gotta have a little fun when you can.
> I don't doubt for a moment that this works and if I ever get the chance I would try it.



Hi buzz
A little good natured fun makes life worth living to me. I truly enjoy quick wit and good humor and you seam to be blessed with both. This type of outlook helps a man through life, never lose it.


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## Jace (Jan 17, 2012)

yummmmmy.
we'll see how it goes in a year or two....


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## treemandan (Jan 18, 2012)

Gee, after that I wonder what's left of the truck!


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## sgreanbeans (Jan 21, 2012)

Take all that off, clean the wound, gently scribe the loose bark away, if you leave that, you will have roots growing out of it, causing more harm that good, those treatments are good for basal wounds. Moss not poop. Not up on the trunk. Trees don't heal, they compartmentalize and close wounds, 2 different things.


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## Jace (Jan 21, 2012)

sgreanbeans said:


> Take all that off, clean the wound, gently scribe the loose bark away, if you leave that, you will have roots growing out of it, causing more harm that good, those treatments are good for basal wounds. Moss not poop. Not up on the trunk. Trees don't heal, they compartmentalize and close wounds, 2 different things.




I'm not taking it off now, I wish u woulda posted your thots before I went to all that trouble. 


And I thought compartmentalism is the nature of how the tree heals...is it not?


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## Ed Roland (Jan 21, 2012)

Jace said:


> I'm not taking it off now, I wish u woulda posted your thots before I went to all that trouble.
> 
> 
> And I thought compartmentalism is the nature of how the tree heals...is it not?



See posts 2, 3 and 5. I fail to see any healthy connection between compartmentalization and fecal smear. 

Ever been sent after a lefthanded screwdriver? :msp_mellow:


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## sgreanbeans (Jan 21, 2012)

Jace said:


> I'm not taking it off now, I wish u woulda posted your thots before I went to all that trouble.
> 
> 
> And I thought compartmentalism is the nature of how the tree heals...is it not?



Sorry, Just seen the post this am! No, trees do not heal, animals heal, trees do not re-generate tissue, they generate new tissues in new places/spaces, the wound will always be there, it will be compartmentalized and the tree may close the wound,depending on the nature of the wound, but it will still be there. That wound will never close. What you are doing will make matters worse. Decay will set in very quickly. I have read about moss treatments for low portions of the trunk, but I have never heard anything about putting poop on a tree. If anything, it is a good practice to remove it from crotches and unused animal cavities, poop is a food source for all kinds of crap!


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## treemandan (Jan 21, 2012)

Ok, who is the smart ass who suckered the guy into wrapping a manure patch on the tree? Really?


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## saw dog (Jan 21, 2012)

treemandan said:


> Ok, who is the smart ass who suckered the guy into wrapping a manure patch on the tree? Really?



You seam to be refeering to me. As a mater of fact it was I that introduced him to the fix for the wound he was conserned about. This is a litigament fix for the problem, do not doubt it and do not label the gentelman as a sucker. I did not advise him to use the mesh, but advised that he plaster the injury with fresh cow manure. This fix was used for years in orchards across the country for this very problem. Give it time to work and you just might feel to be the misinformed sucker.


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## treemandan (Jan 21, 2012)

saw dog said:


> You seam to be refeering to me. As a mater of fact it was I that introduced him to the fix for the wound he was conserned about. This is a litigament fix for the problem, do not doubt it and do not label the gentelman as a sucker. I did not advise him to use the mesh, but advised that he plaster the injury with fresh cow manure. This fix was used for years in orchards across the country for this very problem. Give it time to work and you just might feel to be the misinformed sucker.



Actually I am not refeering much these days but if I do it goes to the left hand side.

What I said was kinda a joke. Just picturing the poor guy smearing manure and stringing chicken wire was amusing to me, kinda like a snipey hunt.

I guess this manure method is kinda like air layering and it would not surprise me to see some sort of reaction from it.:msp_thumbsup:


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## Ed Roland (Jan 21, 2012)

The best thread of the year on AS so far.:msp_thumbsup:


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## sgreanbeans (Jan 22, 2012)

Sorry Sawdog! But I think that is one of those old practices that was never really studied (i wonder why!) I asked my F-I-L whose dad was a tree guy in the old, OLD days (10ft double handled hand saws), he worked with his dad till he left for the big city (pop 40,000!lol!) He just started laughing, said it sounded like he should milk a bull too! I, by no means am claiming to know it all, but I have been studying this stuff for a good long time, read everything I can get my hands on, hit the books everyday for at least 2 hours, sometimes all day. I have never, EVER, heard anything about putting poop on a tree!, I would like to see some proof of it "healing" the tree. I am not making fun, just saying that it sounds like a old home remedy. If it works, maybe we should contact the ISA to get it entered into the Best Management books! 

I can see it now

" For extreme wounds it is best too mix a bit of cow poop with pig poop, the parasites in the pig poop react with the meristematic......."

Tools needed:
1. Cow
2. Trowel
3. Chicken wire
4. Nose plugs


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## treemandan (Jan 22, 2012)

He said we need to get a cow.


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## tree md (Feb 7, 2012)

I hear it cures baldness...


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## Rickytree (Feb 21, 2012)

Didn't read all the posts but saw the pic's and decided to comment. Always thought that bee's wax would be a suitable fix but never tried it, that or concrete.


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