Storm Damage

[olfart]

In the aftermath of the line of storms that moved through the area last night, I discovered our Bradford Pear tree had lost some big limbs. Luckily the limbs mostly missed the greenhouse, but a couple of small limbs buckled a few Lexan roof panels. A friend and I got out this afternoon and cut up the downed limbs, but now I'm stuck with a split tree that'll be difficult/impossible to patch and save.

Greenhouse.jpg

Greenhouse 1.jpg

Split Tree.jpg

Any suggestions for saving the tree? Or is it time to make firewood and plant a new one?

[0utlaw]

I can't swear to a pear tree but I've had several harwoods and countless evergreens survive worse than that. That is a magnificent pear tree if it is producing I'd clean up the break to make sure it can't hold water and treat it with an insect repellent till it can grow callus tissue and heal itself (don't paint or seal it) a tree that size that is generally healthy should be able the heal itself within a year or two.

[olfart]

Bradford Pear is an ornamental, non-fruitbearing tree. Excellent shade, but not worth much for anything else.

[redman2006]

I have seen the way people butcher the Bradford pears here, and they o ly come back stronger.

I would try to salvage it. We ran a bolt trough the tree with large flat washer and trimmed it all back. You have to trim it so it can't hold water. I am sure it shortened the life, but 12 years later, it was still growing .

[redman2006]

Btw, Bradford pear makes great mild smoker wood in my opinion. If you have to cut it down, use it on some turkeys.

[olfart]

Btw, Bradford pear makes great mild smoker wood in my opinion. If you have to cut it down, use it on some turkeys.

Even not cutting it down, the broken limbs would provide enough wood to smoke a couple of hundred turkeys. I'll hang onto some of it just because you said so.

[kickstand]

Ok, I'm ignorant when it comes to this. What do you mean about "not holding water", and why?

[olfart]

Water hastens wood rot. A concave injury in a tree trunk, especially if it's splintered wood, will catch and retain water until the water either evaporates or seeps out through cracks. If the wood in the injury can be smoothed over so that water can't stand in it, but rather runs off, there will be less likelihood of rot.

I've tried to smooth the hole in our tree, but the splintered wood inside the recess is hard to get to. I may try grinding it out with the tip of the chainsaw tomorrow and see if I can get it a little smoother.

[airdrop]

I've covered some wounds with pruning spray that will cover it until the tree can start healing . Have seen some people use cement but not fond of that one lol .

[Gwynmael]

Just my 2 cents - Bradfords abound around here. That one doesn't look too bad and doesn't appear to have reached the heartwood, as long as you can get it "smoothed" out like you're already thinking. Please remember to take into consideration the age of the tree. Bradfords usually only last around 20 years, so if it's getting close to that it just not recover no matter what you do.