A small tree question. (1 Viewer)

[Charles J P]

My wife and I purchased two trees yesterday. We got a really good price, because the selection is already starting to get kind of slim as people will be starting to wait until fall to plant as it gets hotter. Upon bringing them home and planting them, I noticed that one of the trees is missing branches in its whole midsection. Its only about a 7' tall tree, so it has 3 feet from ground, then about 1' of branches, then about 18" - 2' with no branches, then the rest up is covered with branches. Considering how young/small the tree is, will this big bare spot sprout branches? Is there any way to "force" it to?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Peter-PP]

Charles,

You need to tell us more, like what kind of trees did you purchase? Which part of the country are you in? Trees come in different shapes, colors and sizes and require different needs as well.

Pete

 

[Charles J P]

The tree in question is a Krauter Vesuvius Flowering Plum. We live in Nebraska. Its hardy to -20F. Basically, to get a little more descriptive, the branches in the mid portion of the tree broke off at the nursery. I'm basically just wondering if new branches will grow back there.

 

[BrianW]

Peter's right: The advice you receive will depend on all the factors he mentioned.


but if it's a "normal," deciduous tree (non-conifer with a single trunk and either leader or leaderless crown - this excludes pines as well as crape myrtles, holly, and other ornamentals), and if I understand your description, then you'll very likely end up pruning the lowest "set" of branches in order to encourage taller, healthier growth. You may not know this, but branches that exit the trunk three feet from the ground will always be three feet from the ground, no matter how tall the tree eventually gets. And a tree with branches that low is, well, a bush. For the same reason, you don't want to encourage branching to occur in the "bare spot" midway up the trunk.

Again, you'll get better advice if you'll post more details about the species and region, so my advice may not be applicable to your situation.

 

[BrianW]

Sorry, Charles, you slipped your second post in while I was composing mine.

This sounds like an ornamental tree, so I'd refrain from pruning, unless the lowest branches are especially puny. And being a plum tree, it's quite likely that you'll get new branch growth in the bare area of the trunk, especially in the woulds where the original branches broke off, though I don't know how to encourage growth in that fashion.

 

[Charles J P]

Brian, originally I thought like you did, that I may not want branches that low any way, but it is an ornamental tree and only gets 20 some feet tall anyway. (although, if I chopped off the branches below the "bare" spot, it still would have branches only 5' off the ground, which I dont think it too high up. I will probably leav it for now and just see how it fills in, knowing that if it doesnt, its not that big of a deal anyway. I wonder though, I've heard with some plants that if you want them to get bushier, you can prune of the terminal buds (i.e. basically cut off the end (the last leafe only) of every single branch. This supossedly incourages more branches. Does anyone know about this?

 

[Bob Graz]

My new tree advice, use lots of root starter/stimulator, it really seems to get new trees growing fast.