Longan Tree growing weird

[st9988]

I'm new to this forum and I don't know much about pruning trees, so I was hoping someone could help me. I live in Florida. I have a Longan tree in my backyard. It should be about 3-4 years old. It has never had fruit or blossoms. It has one main trunk but last year the trunk broke in half. It survived, but now the tree looks strange.

There are branches growing from only the lower 1/2 of the trunk. All of the branches are just growing straight up at steep angles. Is there anything I should do with this tree? Should I prune it? If it does need pruning, then what and how should I prune? It just looks so weird and I want it to mature into a healthy tree if possible.

The tallest branch is growing from the very bottom of the trunk. I took a picture of it.

 

[Loraxguy]

weird growth

Looks like it died back to the ground for one of many reasons and has sprouted back from the roots-Normal for most trees.

 

[st9988]

So I guess when the trunk broke, it caused the roots to sprout new growth? Do you think the tree will do alright and still be healthy?

 

[Loraxguy]

tree

Just cut back the dead material to ground level and it should be ok -however if that tree is a grafted tree the sucker is growing back from under the bud grafting point the tree will what ever the root material is and not what you migtht have purshased. For example if you cut back old lilac hedge to the ground it might come back as green ash-why because when lilac's came over from over seas way back--there non native-they grafted them onto green ash root stock..

 

[st9988]

Thanks for your replies. I guess I'm not sure what part of the tree is dead. The top half of the remaining trunk has no branches. But the bottom half is where the branches are coming from. Does that mean that only the top half of the trunk is dead?

 

[st9988]

I was also wondering, should I prune off some of those vertical branches, or is it better to leave them alone? I've heard it's best to remove suckers. That sucker on my tree, however, is also the tallest/strongest branch on the tree. What should I do with it?

 

[CountryBoy19]

I'm not a professional arborist, but I do have a little experience in landscaping and pruning.

It sounds to me like the lower half of the old trunk is sprouting multiple branches/suckers out of it. There is also a sucker that has come up from the root stock.

Is that correct?

If you are certain that the tree is not grafted, then the sucker coming from the root stock, being the strongest one, should be selected to live. Prune all the others off, including the old trunk if you can do so without harming the sucker that you've selected to let live.

However, if you aren't certain if it is grafted or not, then select the strongest sucker coming off the dead portion of the trunk and prune the rest off.


There may be a way to tell if the sucker coming from the roots is a true form that you want, but it's not a 'sure-fire way to tell'. Compare the leaves/bark/every aspect of it with the others. Do you see any differences? If there is no difference at all then chances are it isn't grafted (but there is still a chance that it is grafted). If it does look different then it is most likely grafted and I would not select the sucker from the root-stock.


I had this same problem with a Red oak in my backyard when I moved into the house. Looked like a 7' tall red oak (likely planted when the house was built in '05) had died. I wasn't even sure if it was alive because last fall/winter when I moved in it all just looked dead. The main trunk etc was still there but rotten. All around it were suckers/shoots coming up, forming a beautiful Red oak shrub. That was perfect if you wanted a shrub, but I wanted a tree. So this past spring when things greened up and I was able to confirm that it was actually alive, I decided to prune it back into a tree. The nicest couple shoots were actually pretty strong looking, but they were all clumped together and it was going to be very difficult to properly prune the others off without harming the selected shoot. Off to the side, however, there was a sole shoot that wasn't bad. It was a little stunted, and a little twisted, but this is a yard tree so straight grain etc wasn't my priority. I selected that one to live, and I pruned off the remainder. Because the roots were well established to support a 7' tree, the little sucker took off like mad. In 1 growing season that shoot went from 3' to 6' tall and it's nice and bushy now. The difference was that I trimmed off all the other shoots, and that allowed the roots to support that one shoot very well.

If you do the same thing with you tree (trim off the suckers) you're going to be quite surprised in how quickly the selected shoot takes off and grows.

 

[st9988]

Thanks for your suggestion. I'm pretty sure the sucker looks exactly the same as the other branches. I'll probably try what you suggested when I have time and cut away the other branches, leaving the large sucker.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Thanks for your suggestion. I'm pretty sure the sucker looks exactly the same as the other branches. I'll probably try what you suggested when I have time and cut away the other branches, leaving the large sucker.

I did a little more research on the Longan... I didn't know what it was. Turns out it is very similar to Lychee... I'm very jealous of you. I was introduced to Lychees in Hawaii on my honeymoon and I fell in love with them... bought all I could eat while I was there... kinda nasty look/texture, but they're delicious. They look just like a big eyeball..


Anyways, my point... it seems that it's common to graft Longan trees. Did you buy this tree and plant it? If so, can you remember anything about where you bought it etc? As of right now I would say that there is a very good chance your Longan tree is grafted. I don't know a whole lot about grafting so I may be wrong, but it may have been grafted onto another variety of Longan root-stock. This Longan may be selected for a stronger root-stock but not necessarily a strong producer. If you choose the sucker that is coming from the rootball, it could be a toss-up what you get. You may still get a tree that produces well, but on the other hand, it may not produce at all.

Knowing that, if this tree was in my yard, I would select the strongest sucker/branch coming off the old trunk. The only difference you're going to see is the because the sucker is coming off the trunk the tree will look a bit odd for a while, and it likely won't grow as tall as the sucker from the roots (this may even be desirable for you).

I'm not sure how much you know about pruning, but when you top a tree (essentially what happened) or prune the end of a branch off, it tends to slow it's grow in height and grow stronger, shorter, and much more bushy/branchy. So essentially, the sucker coming off the already "topped" tree will most likely grow shorter and thicker than the sucker coming off the root-stock.

 

[st9988]

We got the tree from a friend who actually has a very large longan tree. Her tree actually produces a lot of fruit. We've had this tree for about 3-4 years but it's never had any fruit. At this point, I'm just hoping it grows into a normal looking tree. I'll definitely consider your suggestions. Thanks so much.