AusBonsai

Hi all, I think I read somewhere or was advised that by intentionally wounding the cambium on a trees trunk, done by tapping the trunk with a hammer in random areas over the trunk, it is possible to encourage extra thickening of the trunk as the tree repairs itself by healing over the damage with a new cambium layer. The main tree that this technique was described on was a Trident Maple. Has anyone heard of this Tried it Or can give me a little more information on the procedure

Hi Siddhar , there are many methods of torture that work on some species and not on others .I have tried bruising , slashing ,wiring ,drilling and probably anything else that goes against the grain . Its hit and miss on all species but i have had success with trunk slashing HOWEVER it leaves permanant scares as does all of the other methods .

Some say tapping doesn't work other say it does , at the end of the day you are damaging the trunk and it will almost always remain damaged of in a worse case scenario die back in the area damaged thus possibly stuffing the specimen completely .Sacrifice branches can be grafted onto the lower trunk but as with all sacrifice branches there is always a scar where it will be or was removed .

I have slashed Pinus Nigra's to thicken a reverse taper it didn't work, however i have done the same on a Pinus Ponderosa and it work well over a 5 year period , there is no quick fix .Hope this helps .

Cheers Alpine

G'day Alpine, mate this information is a great help. Im glad I asked the question here before I took to my trees with a hammer

I think Ill try this approach in the future, it seems to be the most practical.

Sacrifice branches can be grafted onto the lower trunk but as with all sacrifice branches there is always a scar where it will be or was removed .

Hi Siddhar, if grafting a sacrifice branch use the thread graft not the inarch graft . The thread is cleaner and can be used on pines and deciduous ,inarching tends to bulge on the graft itself on pines pines and makes for an ugly union and i don't think it will successfully fatten the trunk . Grant showed a post on "how to" with pines and Taffy explained how to use a straw to thread the pine needles through the hole ,all in Grants thread grafting pine topic post .Good luck Champ .

Cheers Alpine

Hi Siddhar.
There is another method.
im in the prcess of one now. The last years aerial layer on the prunus didnt take, the cambium joined back up so i let it go.
After the join up completed, a thick callus formed all its way around the join. Now this year i have skimmed the callouse and let it grow back again,bigger. Next year ill do same till i get the thickness i want. In this process the branch is never removed from the tree till its time. Will post photos soon of the process.

Now this year i have skimmed the callouse and let it grow back again,bigger. Next year ill do same till i get the thickness i want. In this process the branch is never removed from the tree till its time. Will post photos soon of the process.

Thanks Petra, Im very interested to see the pics

siddhar wrote:Hi all, I think I read somewhere or was advised that by intentionally wounding the cambium on a trees trunk, done by tapping the trunk with a hammer in random areas over the trunk, it is possible to encourage extra thickening of the trunk as the tree repairs itself by healing over the damage with a new cambium layer. The main tree that this technique was described on was a Trident Maple. Has anyone heard of this Tried it Or can give me a little more information on the procedure

There was a very well known elderly gentleman ( Jack Tripovitch ) from Melbourne that used to spike his radiata pines once a year with a sharp knife to fatten the trunks. The technique involved jabbing the trunk with a tip of the sharp blade several dozen times and this injured the cambium and caused the trunk to swell. he did this for over 40 years and even though he died 10 years ago, his trees are still growing strongly.

Trunk slashing and or spiking was a method learned and handed down to a few from Jack .Brian were you one of the guys that hung out in the Shed a night.

Yes I was one of Jacks students way back in 1983. Still quietly growing trees the Tripovitch way !

There was a very well known elderly gentleman ( Jack Tripovitch ) from Melbourne that used to spike his radiata pines once a year with a sharp knife to fatten the trunks. The technique involved jabbing the trunk with a tip of the sharp blade several dozen times and this injured the cambium and caused the trunk to swell. he did this for over 40 years and even though he died 10 years ago, his trees are still growing strongly.
Brian

Thank-you Brian, Im about to take to some of my JBP's with a knife. I'll let you know what the outcome is.

Brian wrote:Yes I was one of Jacks students way back in 1983. Still quietly growing trees the Tripovitch way !

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A question for you fella , still got that big Banksia and Fig from QLD . Alpine

Yup, the Qld fig is as thick as my leg now !