Broken branch!

Flolo

HELP! We have a Tropical Fig, are extremely new to bonsai care, and have no idea what to do about a broken branch! It happened a couple of days ago and not knowing what to I propped it up as it was not broken the whole way but splintered, and hoped it would be ok. Two days later and the branch looks as though it is dying, leaves are shrivelled and turning brown in contrast to the healthy look of the rest of the tree. I have no idea how to go about pruning the branch or what that would do to the shape of the tree...? Any and all advice is appreciated as the seller is in another city where I go to uni. I'm attaching pictures of both the lovely whole shape of the tree, and the 'wound' close up. If I have to prune the branch what is the best way to go about it, and how would that effect the aesthetics of the tree? It was a real shame that the accident happened because the tree had a really great shape.

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

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Sailor_Jerry

I'm by no means an expert, but that branch certainly looks like a goner.

Nice aerial roots coming in though, and the loss of one branch shouldn't doom the whole tree.

MacInOakRidge

You have another branch right below the one that broke. And another one on the upper side of the limb. No big loss there. Just develop what you have to work with.

AndyWilson

You can use black electricians tape, or stuff called "micro pore" to bandage broken or snapped branches. they key here is immobility. the less the branch moves the quicker it will have a chance to set or repair.

Just tape the branch (as soon as possible after the break) back into original position and leave the thing to repair. I do this a bit with a wide variety of trees and most of the time they will repair themselves.

Good luck, that particualr branch is probably gone, but now you know how to fix it in the future!

Flolo

Thanks very much for all the advice guys, been a big help even if this branch is lost. The rest of the tree is looking in good condition, new leaves growing etc, so i guess I'll just prune the broken branch and be ready with the tape if it happens again. Do I just snip the broken one off?

apisto

Whip it off at the white section where the bark was previously disturbed.
If you have sealing paste put some in the wound.

If not a bit of plastercine will suffice.

Looking at the picture you will have 2 options with a branch above and below.

I would leave it to grow out for a month to see which is stronger, then cut off the other and wire the branch to a position similar to the one lost.

You could also wire both the remaining branches to form a new one in the postion of the last.


Or you could just whip it off completely as it already has a branch directly across from it !

Flolo

I'll do that, wait a month and see how it's looking. Thank you so much for the advice, it's been a great help =)

lehket

Flolo,

Now that you have all the advice about repairing the damage (to the extent possible), I'll throw a monkey wrench into the works:

Cut off the whole branch. It's in a rotten location. First, it's growing from the inside of a curve on the trunk (or very nearly) which is usually considered poor design, and second it's very nearly forming what's called a "bar branch" by being almost directly across from the branch on the right side of the tree. Bar branches are also considered poor design. The right branch grows on the outside of the curve (which is correct), so of the two that would be the one to keep.

Now having said all that, this is your tree and you should do what you want to do. The one reason I can see for keeping the left branch in spite of its flaws is that there is nothing else on that side of the tree right now until you reach the upper levels. You could really use a branch on the outside of the next curve up, but to get that you'd either have to have a very cooperative tree or you'd have to graft a branch on there. I've never done a graft, so I can't help with that.

Actually, there is perhaps one other possibility. You could maybe wire the foliage on the upper left so that it sweeps downward. You might be able to develop it so as to fill in some space on the left without having lower branches.

Hmmm . . . well . . . read up on bonsai styles and then do what you want.

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