On 5 May 2007 22:32:20 -0700, M100C wrote:

All,
I have a small, white pine tree in my yard about 10' high. Back in
early spring, while it was still cold, my son climbed into the tree to
retrieve a toy lodged at the top, and in doing so, broke off the whole
top section (about 2'). Snapped right through the top of the "trunk"
so cleanly that it looks like it was nearly cut off. The break is
right above a small set of limbs, and I was advised to bend-and-secure
one of the limbs into an upright position, so it will take on as a
"leader".

I had a pine tree whose top broke off because of the snow. I saw the
snow and said to myself, You should go brush it off, but it was hard
to reach and I didn't. So it broke.

I didn't do anything, and the tree stayed about the same for maybe two
years. The third year, a branch from the side near what was now the
top started growing almost vertically. The whole tree grew as normal
for another 10+ years. I should have said that the whole tree was at
an angle for some reason, and had been since before I saw the house.
So the new part of the tree was growing somewhat sideways and
eventually almost reached my house. This year there didn't seem to be
that much snow on it, but the sideways weight caused about 15 feet to
break off. So all that's left now is the original 10 feet. It's
worse than that because the limbs at 3, and 4 feet and somewhat higher
had died off because they were the lower limbs of a tall pine tree.
The only really big limb is merged with some cedar bushes next to the
tree. So the tree doesn't look so great right now, but I'm figuring
in 2 or 3 years it will start to grow again.

I had been afraid its roots was going to lift up my sidewalk, and now
I'm debating if the roots will grow more slowly now since the tree is
much smaller, of they will grow faster because maybe the new trunk
needs extra energy to burst out of the old one. I don't really
understand trees or women.


We had a tulip tree in Indianapolis that had broken off before we
bought the house. The stub was about 6 feet tall, with the broken
area going from 6 feet down to about 4 feet. No branches or leaves
iirc. About 4 inches in diameter. The other 3 tulip trees were much
bigger and taller with a lot of branches, etc. Some people would
have taken it out, sooner or later, but my mother didn't know how,
didn't have the strength, and didn't have anywhere near the money to
take out a tree that wasn't bothering anyone. Or maybe she just had
hopes. The tree sat there doing nothing for 3 or 4 years, then started
growing again, and seemed to grow awfully fast. It was at least 15
feet tall when we moved, and doing fine.

Does this sound right? I am completely ignorant as to the best way to
fix this, and your suggestions are welcome.

Bending that limb might pick which limb grows upwards, but I have a
feeling the tree will pick one if you don't. Probably the top one.

Thank you greatly,
Chris