Help!! Heavy snow split the trunk of my maple

Do I need to remove the damaged portion- which is pretty much half of the top of the tree, or can I bind the trunk with tape or wire, or will it repair itself and be okay?

Do you have a photo?

you can try binding - i have and i have to say it has not been successful

what i do now is temporarily wrap some twine around the top half of the tree in late fall and remove it in the spring - a minor bit of effort - that is usually enough to protect them from snow and ice storm damage - i lost a major portion of a tree during our ice storm last year that is slowly filling back in - kicked myself for not doing this sooner.

Depending on the severity of the split, it is very possible to save the tree. Just line up the split portions and wrap them tightly with tape. Believe it or not, I've used duck tape quite successfully. A photo would help determine the procedure better. You could even drill a hole or two through the two parts and use a nut and bolt to hold them together. Again, it depends on the size of the branches.

Allot depends on how heavy the broken part is but as said a jpeg is necessary .It also depends on how long it was broken before the attempted repair. If it was split under snow for several days ... it is even much more less likely to mend than even the slight chance a fresh split would mend ...since the wood will be dry and will never seal back. And remember even if wrapped and saved it will be permanently weakened and even with care as above it may eventually succumb..I would bet against success but it never hurts to try and if unsuccessful just clean cut it off which as I just said, will likely be the case. Even if misshapen with the missing half... it will likely survive and may eventually grow back to look less strange or it may just peter along and never look right depending on how much is left and whether the damage effects the still growing part part. This is not uncommon with heavy wet snows and high grafted ( yuk) dissectums... they are a disaster waiting to happen in such situations. You are not the first person who has posted with such a situation and likely far from the last. David(san)

This message was edited Mar 2, 2010 4:42 PM

This message was edited Mar 2, 2010 4:44 PM

Thanks, all, for your answers. I think I'm going to just leave it and see what happens... I'm afraid I'm without ability to load pics onto computer- yeah, I know, I know. But the split is right down the middle of 2" diameter trunk and 2" deep at most. The branches on either side don't seem to be dessicated, but the wood on the interior of the split is dry. If it does poorly later this spring I'll cut it as cleanly as I can.
Thanks so much !

i was happy to see that after i lifted up the snow mound, my jm was in one peice, just bent over. whew what a relief.

If it's an open split, it's an invitation for disease and insects to get into the wood. You don't want to use any of that black sealing tar, but you do want to close up the break.

Good news Marie_kap. I'm so glad that your JM braved the season in one piece.

thanks Stanford. This was one of 3 i planted last fall. the other 2 look great, no damage , not under snow. i was scared with this one.