Magnolia tree ruined?

Hello! As some of you may know, we have just had a big ice storm here in southern Missouri/northern Arkansas. Things have been melting for a few days now, and we were very lucky with not much damage. But the magnolia tree (my favorite tree!) that was here when we moved here did have a major break - it was topped (see the top on the ground in pic). I know that once the main leader of the tree is broken, the secondary growth will be weak and the whole tree is just not very good any more. I was wondering if anyone knows if there is a chance the leader will start growing again or if there was anything I could do to encourage that. It was about 10 feet tall. It is way too close to the fence anyway, so maybe we should just cut our losses with it and cut it down anyway.

Oh, that is great! I will "baby" it a bit this year, and hopefully it will recover and be as beautiful as ever!

?? If it's not a clean break.. Should it trimmed or not

If you want to "hurry things up a bit", you can stake that one branch that is already semi-upright (top right in the photo). It will probably be the one that grows to become the new leader anyway, but that can take a few years. I've seen many instances of both deciduous and evergreen trees lose their leader and it's amazing to watch (in slow motion) a side branch gradually turn upwards to become the new leader. This can happen on quite large spruces and other trees with a single leader, or sometimes shade trees develop numerous leaders. In your case, a single leader should be encouraged for nice form, I would think. You can use a tall stake in the ground extending up to the top, or lash a pole / stake to the trunk itself and tie the branch to that. Pick a warm day with the branch is very flexible. In just a year, it will have "frozen" in position and you can remove the stake.

HoosierGreen is right. Two years ago I bought a Cedrus deodara 'Eisregen' pretty cheaply because the leader had died back. In two seasons, with no assistance from me, the next largest side shoot turned upward and today it looks like it never had a problem. I just hope it makes it through this winter. They are not reliably hardy here and we have had temps as low as -17.

Snapple45: I really covet your 'Eisregen'!! Over the past few years, I've notice a few Blue Atlas Cedars growing quite nicely in Central Indiana. But, we've had mild winters for the past ten+ years, with temps rarely below 10º. So, I guess this winter will be the test, as we've had actual temps to -12º with little snow cover (until last week's storm which dumped over a foot of snow on Indianapolis). I wonder if the cedars, nandinas, crepemyrtles, and other Zone 6+ plants which have done so well recently in this area will make it through this winter. The only good thing about this cold is that maybe it'll knock back some of the insect pests, like bagworms, which thrived and seemed to expand their range since the 1990s.

Please us know how your cedar did when spring gets here. And good luck. If yours makes it, I might just try one out this summer!

I hate to hijack this thread, but what about dwarf conifers?
Same storm; different catastrophe.
I had a similarly disastrous truncation of the main trunk of a beautiful small pinus parviflora.
A 6ft tree reduced to a single branch just above the ground.
Will a new leader develop?
I don't have the heart to chuck it.

I can't imagine why the same thing woundn't occur with dwarf conifers. That's too bad about your pine. At least it's not too terribly slow-growing, so maybe this spring will give you some hope. It might even turn out to have a lot of character this way. I sure wouldn't pitch it yet. Give it some fertilizer and cross your fingers.

I'll see what develops.
My yard seems to be an entire collection of stunted souls.
I guess it gives them character.

Take heart, all you leader-less tree lovers! It's a rare conifer that doesn't lose its leader before maturity--but few of us see a broken leader on a 100-ft-tall tree (or a 100-year-old tree). "Topping" conifers is a favorite pasttime of view-seeking homeowners in the Seattle area and we get to watch the trees defeat the bungled pruning attempts all over town. Around here, a leader typically re-establishes itself within a year (but we have a year-round growing season, so maybe it takes a little more time elsewhere?). Even on large trees, the damage is no longer visible within three or four years. And my neighbor's lawn service topped his 12-ft-tall magnolia down to 5 ft. It resembled a commercially pruned apple tree for about a year, then started to establish multiple leaders. Three years later, it's a lovely rounded tree top again.

I'm going to highjack this thread yet again and ask about a red maple that I lost the top of 3 years ago. What can be done for it? Anything? It was 6' and now it's 3'. The whole thing seems to be struggling and no signs of anything trying to be the leader.

Post a photo so we can see its condition. Don't give up hope.

I guess one is getting taller than the others. I haven't given up on this little tree but I think it needs to be moved elsewhere.

This was this evening.

Oh... it's a red JAPANESE maple! That's different (I thought you meant it was an Acer rubrum red maple... big shade tree sapling), but GOOD since it won't have such a hard time looking nice again. The one large branch that is whitish is most likely dead. Wait until it leafs out and then you can "open it up" with some judicious pruning. If you fertilize it this spring and mulch it well, it should take off for you and look great by mid-summer. Maybe one of the JM experts can give you more advice on pruning. Check the Japanese Maple forum and post your photo there. If it's in full sun, it would probably benefit from a more protected exposure in your area. Hopefully, Davidsan will answer your posting with his always helpful advice.

I've included a photo of a nice Japanese maple so you have something to look forward to!

I asked on that forum and I think it will be moved. I just don't know where yet. Thanks for your help. I'd forgotten about the other branch. That grey one used to be the leader and it's been dead for 3 years.

Just an update on my magnolia......after I started this thread, I had planned to stake one of the limbs up like HoosierGreen suggested. There was a limb that couldn't be seen in the photo that was the most upright already. Well, being the procrastinator that I am, I didn't get to it right away; but now that limb is completely vertical. It happened so quickly I thought it might have just been the wind, or maybe the branch was caught on another branch. But, no, it is a completely permanent turn upward in the branch. Amazing how fast that happened!

Nature finds a way, doesn't it? Glad your tree isn't ruined.

Yeah! Nature always finds a way. It'll really take off this spring, I bet. Before you know it, you'll have a hard time telling what happened.

ericabelle: May I suggest you try to propogate some cuttings of the magnolia and then plant them in a more idea setting away from the fence? I did this two years ago and now I have 4 magnolias of the same type. The original is probably 20-30 years old and huge and I lose branches nearly every year when we have heavy snows. This way if the original tree dies I have it's children and this will make me feel better!

Btw: What kind of magnolia is it? I bought a few new varieties last summer and they all have buds and I can't wait to see what they look like this spring! This is my favorite tree since childhood!

What a great idea, mothermole! I will definitely do that - are they hard to propagate? Is it best done in the spring? It was here when we moved to this house last year, but it is a magnolia grandiflora, not sure what cultivar. It looks a lot like 'Goliath'. Here is a photo of one of three blooms it had this summer - I was so proud of it!
Oh, the magnolia has always been my favorite tree, too; and now that we have a house, I look forward to getting some other smaller-type magnolias. Are there any that you recommend?

This message was edited Feb 17, 2009 8:44 PM

A friend of mine has a Dwarf Alberta Spruce that turned brown on the top cone part, so I thought at the time "thats it, there goes the shape, it'll never grow a new leader". I think Spidermites or something was able to mess it up effectively before I noticed it. I cut all the brown off and the top as it were.
But, lo and behold, now, about 3 years later, it is well on its way to having a new cone. Its about to the point now that you wouldn't know the top was cut off unless I told you it was.

Yeah, I'd say that Magnolia is way too close to that fence, but its only a fence. I like evergreen foliage laying on or very near the ground, but that fence isn't too high, perhaps you can just prune above it in coming years. Unfortunately, I think the neighbors have the right to prune anything that hangs over their yard and I think that would mess its shape up.
The Southern Magnolia tree gets quite large over time (assuming you have the straight species tree which is probably more likely, unless you know for sure its not). I think the straight species Southern Magnolia is and was commonly planted in South Missouri. I took this pic of a Southern Magnolia not far from West Plains, in the bootheel, and it has crowded the house real nice, it is a large tree, probably around a hundred years old. Down there I saw those trees planted everywhere.
Will


This message was edited Feb 17, 2009 11:16 PM

Ericabelle, if you're looking for a smaller magnolia, you might want to check out the 'Little Girl' hybrids.
I can only think of a few of their names (Rikki, Susan, and Jane). They're shrubby, rather than trees.
Their flowers are shades of bright pink - they vary of course. And they bloom late spring so they avoid the late frost issue.
And of course, Star Magnolias (magnolia stellata) are small magnolias with beautiful star-shaped blooms. The flowers blooom before the plant leafs out. Unfortunately, at least in our part of Mo, it's a 50-50 chance of getting hit by a frost. They bloom early in the spring and the flowers turn to brown goo with any frost. But I have several anyway, because they're one of my most anticipated signs that spring has arrived. And they're really beautiful (both white and pink forms).

Here's one of my white star magnolias.

I don't have a pix of any of my 'Little GIrl' hybrids.
Here's a magnolia with pink star-like flowers called magnolia loebneri Leonard Messel.

The Little Girl magnolias are 'Susan', 'Jane', 'Ann', and 'Betty', with the last two usually regarded as being the best of the lot. 'Ann' has reddish purple flowers and 'Betty' has purple-red outer petals that fade to a white inside. There're pretty good cultivars that bloom a little later than most star magnolias. 'Royal Star' is more late-blooming than other stellatas. Here's a photo of 'Jane'.

All of the Little Girl aka Little Sisters magnolias grow to about 10' X 6', but can be kept pruned smaller of course.

This message was edited Feb 22, 2009 10:56 AM

Here's Magnolia stellata 'Merrill'. Truly lovely when it escapes late spring frosts. Horrid when it doesn't. 'Merrill' wants to be a large shrub. It's been carefully pruned since about year 5 ( of 15 ) to keep it more tree like. Also last year it had an unusual case of spotty incidents of die back. OSU Extension lab tests were negative for verticillium wilt. A investigational dig around the base of the trunk revealed 3 girdling roots! These roots were new, none over 1-1/2" in diameter. The worst two were removed immediately. The third wasn't yet serious and will be removed after leaf out this coming spring. I believe they might have been encouraged by over mulching. Although I've always kept mulch well away from the trunk I did mulch the root area every year. Last year after removing the girdling roots I under planted the area with Epidemium rubrum. In the future I'll mulch more more lightly about every third year. You live, you garden and you learn.