arrrgh help!

[twoshay]

Ok, so I was just moving a thicker branch around on my squamata and heard a crack, seemed to fall right back into its place, but I am worried about what damage this may cause, is there anything I can do to ensure the branch doesn't die off?

[twoshay]

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/can-save-t ... 89498.html

Will this help?

[Bougy Fan]

You can use superglue on the heartwood - as long as there is a live strip of bark it should be OK. Of course it will never be as strong as it was before the crack.

[benbonsai]

I cracked a main branch on my big squamata some time ago when I moved. I was trying to get it into my car when it happened.
It cracked on the underside pretty badly and was only hanging on by a "thread". I just wired it back down and it survived.
Unfortunately today when I was trimming the tree I forgot about it and went to move it and snapped it off completely

[twoshay]

oh that sucks!! I have taped it with some electrical tape, it wasn't a bad break so fingers crossed! Should I prune it back a bit or should it be ok?

[benbonsai]

I didn't touch mine and it was fine for a year or so.
Personally I would leave it to give the best chance to survive, but I'm not sure what is best for it.

[Boics]

As bougy says superglue is the way forward.
Some sort of indicator/reminder would be handy too.

[Kevin]

Hello twoshay,

In the past i have successfully used another sturdy twig as a splint with electrical tape at each end until the trees cambium layer completely sealed over.
I have never used glue but does sound very practical with the splint as security.

P.S. Make sure your splint stick is as long as the branch, secured several times if necessary.

Good luck,
Kevin

[twoshay]

Thanks for the tips guys! I don't think it will need a splint as it is still very firmly in place, the crack is in the underside of the branch.
I will give the superglue a shot tomorrow, cannot locate it at the moment so I will pick some up tomorrow.

I honestly didn't think I was using much force at all, lesson learned!

[The Surgeon]

I have bound my errors/breaks with cotton twine and even some old material/cloth/rag. I have never used glue, but it's used by doctors for small cuts on humans so .....why not???!!!

[Lane]

In my experience often the crack will heal and can callous up creating reverse taper, if it's somewhere inconspicuous it's no real drama but if it becomes obvious it may warrant a design change.

[twoshay]

I haven't yet decided on where I am going with this one, the trunk has some great flow, but not enough taper, and spoke branches at the top, about 5 main branches coming from the one point. So being inexperienced I have left the design until more knowledge is gained. There is some shoots popping out from the base of the trunk over the past 2-3 weeks, So i am trying to get a little light in to them, so hopefully they might grow and fatten up the base a little.
I am thinking I may have to remove most of the main branches to get something decent out of it.

The glue seems to be working a treat though, thanks again for the advice guys

[twoshay]

Probably not the best pic, but I thought I would post anyway

[benbonsai]

From that pic, maybe you could get a couple of those branches bendeing down further and get a semi cascade out of it.
Hard to tell from the pic though

[twoshay]

Hey Ben, I will grab a few more pics today, I think I should remove all the lower weaker branches to get a better view.