[Carrotcake]

I have a young apple tree that has been in the ground for about 18 months now. Today, I found the main trunk (only about 1.5 to 2 cm thick) has got broken, possibly wind damage, but is still holding on by a thin piece of the trunk.

I'm not sure whether to try regrafting it with some sort of splint arrangement or just prune it back below the break, leaving a short stump of about 35 cms which is about half of it's height.

Can anyone advise the best course of action for my poor tree?

[Runwell-Steve]

I'm sure somebody will be able to answer you with a more scientific answer but if it was me, having never done it before, I think I would just push it back together, put some tape round it and splint it so it can't move.  Then I would stand back and keep my fingers crossed that it will heal.

[gillie]

Has it broken above, on or below the graft?  If above the graft you could try the taping method.

I suspect it would break at the graft, which would be the weakest point.  If so I am afraid your tree will be no good, as it will sprout from the rootstock.

Gillie

[Trillium]

I had something happen similar to this with one of my peach trees. Another tree fell on one side of the peach and almost snapped off a major limb. We immediately popped it back in place, wound wire around the aligned pieces and also propped up the heavy branch. It kept growing that year, produced peaches and we thought we were okay. By late fall the branch had thickened and the wire was cutting in so we had to take it off but kept the prop in place. The following spring the whole branch was dead and had to be removed  

You can try splinting yours together and you might have more luck than I did, but be prepared for it to fail later.

[goodegg]

wrap plastic around the break and put a splint on three sides so it is sturdy try and make plastic air tight and it should survive good luck

[goodegg]

ps.. dont use wire use soft brown string whitch will have a bit of give

[Carrotcake]

Thanks all, the break is well above the graft so I'll give the splint and repair a go.

[Trillium]

ps.. dont use wire use soft brown string whitch will have a bit of give

Unfortunately the branch was quite heavy and everything else we tried broke, so we had no choice but to use wire.

[peterjf]

hell of a lot of time and worry,

would you be put out too much to buy another tree ,

[solway cropper]

Was the tree staked?

I agree with peterjf, buy another pot grown tree and give it plenty of support so that it can't break.

[Casablanka]

I HAVE JUST SPLIT MY MUM'S BEAUTIFUL YOUNG APPLE TREE, in a way similar to the original poster!!! Have taped it together as best I can but could really do with some advice, my mum will be very upset if it doesn't heal up... any advice much appreciated

[ilan]

perhaps make it a clean cut as its above the graft paint the wound with arbrex or similar and you should get two or three shoots from near the break make one of these the new leader the others can be cut off make it grow as vertical as you can . I think there is also a method of bridge grafting which was an old method of saving valuable trees in which a strip or two of living bark and tissue is grafted over the damaged area 

[Casablanka]

That sounds like good advice, but a bit more drastic than I was hoping for! Hoping I can avoid cutting, as that would be the majority of the tree... A tree surgeon friend said:

'If there's still bark attached then chances are it'll be ok. Bind it up just above the split but not too tight and keep and eye on it. Maybe use a bamboo stake to hold the branch in place
Google grafted apple tree info, sure it'll let you know. I hack em up more than stitch em together.'

That's more or less what I've done, except I bound it pretty tight, and all around, not just above the split

[ilan]

Sorry giving a bit of cross advice if you have a lot of bark still attached then splint it well and seal the split with arbrex or similar or use horticultural tape as it will give as the tree grows . Its important to realise that all the trees nutients and water is transported via the bark and sub layers the "wood " only supports the tree so any break in the bark will kill or weaken the tree often this happens with a strimmer or with a wire or tie thats to tight