[CANUFNET] Pruning Wound Treatment on Silver Maple

[JPM TREE SERVICE via CANUFNET]

That’s a pretty big cut. This species of Acer, unlike its country-cousin the Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), is not a strong compartmentalizer of wounds. Also, heal is a term I once used: to “restore near to its original condition.” Seal is a better term that I prefer to employ. Semantics are important.

A photo is always helpful, but not available in this case. Has the cut been made correctly in relation to the branch collar, and has that cut been made using a thin chainsaw chain that is sharp ? The thinner chain found on say the Stihl MS-150 (TC-E) [who makes up these longwinded tool names anyways?] leaves a smoother cut. A cut that is bumpy has more “valleys and ridges” for the woundwood to travel across to close the site and form the cicatrix. Let’s assume that the bark was not ripped off during the cut. That usually doesn’t bode well. 

I’ve taken two foot diameter cuts before, but they are often on London plane (Platanus x acerifolia) or Western red cedar (Thuja plicata); both have faired well. For this Silver Maple, it’ll be and wait and see game, as fungi may be the winner.

For wound treatments, the only thing I’ve done is to take a little soil from the base of the tree and rub it on larger wounds. One to discolour the white wood from the viewer below and two, instinctually I think it might help. I have no science on this technique. 
However going to back to trees that have been pruning 10 and 15 years eariler, I haven’t seen that it has done any harm.




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