Tree wound sealer

[E&MBees]

Can anyone recommend a tree wound sealer please? It’s not something I have used before. I need to prune my parents magnolia tree as the new next door neighbour is being ‘difficult’. There are a couple of branches slightly overhanging the boundary and he is threatening all sorts. It’s the wrong time of year to prune and the wounds will leak if I don’t seal them. Leaving it is not an option as he will take matters into his own hands. Thanks

 

[user 20297]

Can anyone recommend a tree wound sealer please? It’s not something I have used before. I need to prune my parents magnolia tree as the new next door neighbour is being ‘difficult’. There are a couple of branches slightly overhanging the boundary and he is threatening all sorts. It’s the wrong time of year to prune and the wounds will leak if I don’t seal them. Leaving it is not an option as he will take matters into his own hands. Thanks

Maybe things have changed since I was at college, but back in the 1980s the recommendation was to let the wound heal naturally. The idea was to leave the wood and the soft tissue as smooth as possible and to have it angled to deflect water as quickly as possible.
Treatments available then were thought to be antagonist to healing.

 

[blackcloud]

There was some kind of gummy wax used when I was a kid.Someone had cut a circle in the bark around the full circumference of one of the trees at school.
The old groundsman grafted fresh cut twigs and pushed them under the top and bottom edges of the cut and coated it with this stuff.
The work was a triumph and the tree still lives today.
It probably would have done anyway but that would precipitate in the parade.
I regularly trim limbs from trees for their own safety but never seal.Never have problems.
Most lifeforms that would take such advantage would do so without fresh cuts anyway.
If you are adamant why not try a beeswax and linseed oil mix

 

[E&MBees]

There was some kind of gummy wax used when I was a kid.Someone had cut a circle in the bark around the full circumference of one of the trees at school.
The old groundsman grafted fresh cut twigs and pushed them under the top and bottom edges of the cut and coated it with this stuff.
The work was a triumph and the tree still lives today.
It probably would have done anyway but that would precipitate in the parade.
I regularly trim limbs from trees for their own safety but never seal.Never have problems.
Most lifeforms that would take such advantage would do so without fresh cuts anyway.
If you are adamant why not try a beeswax and linseed oil mix

Thanks. I don’t normally, but it’s out of season and my parents are very upset by the neighbours aggression towards them.

 

[MillMeadow]

Thanks. I don’t normally, but it’s out of season and my parents are very upset by the neighbours aggression towards them.

Sorry to hear that, sounds like a prize tool. Not really off to a good start in a new community.

The only time I'd consider applying something to cut boughs would be for ash.

I doubt it would make any difference but I'd hate to think I'd provided an easy vector for die back to get in. Its arrived here recently and I expect the area to look very different in a few years time sadly

I think some of the old guys used to apply tar but I could ownly expect that to slow or prevent healing.

 

[Sutty]

If it's away from an area they use, and right next to a neighbour frequented area I'd "seal" it with the smelliest substance I could lay my hands on!

 

[ericbeaumont]

let the wound heal naturally

he will take matters into his own hands

Years ago I used a natural sealing product called Arbrex, but as Beebe, in the 80s it was recommended to leave cuts to heal naturally. I have found concrete used to seal big limb cuts in very old apple trees, and believe that was common practice at one time.

Your neighbour is only allowed to cut to the party line, but it would be sensible to re-shape the tree, in season after flowering, to bring it further inside your property and avoid a repetition of the dispute.

 

[E&MBees]

If it's away from an area they use, and right next to a neighbour frequented area I'd "seal" it with the smelliest substance I could lay my hands on!

Very tempting! They have ripped up the previous owners garden. Such a shame.

 

[The Poot]

If it’s an evergreen magnolia, Thompson and Morgan recommend pruning in Spring.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

any bituminous paint was what H Frazer used to recommend as a wound dressing, in the past I've just used whatever gloss paint I have already opened.
There's plenty of inexpensive tree wound dressing available on ebay, and a few tutorials on yootoob on how to make your own

 

[E&MBees]

Thanks all for the suggestions. Much appreciated

 

[fian]

Thanks all for the suggestions. Much appreciated

Go to a nearby pharmacy and buy a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide and cotton.
As soon as you make the cut, apply hydrogen peroxide with the cotton and with a bit of tape, cover the cut for a day. The next day remove the poultices.

 

[pargyle]

any bituminous paint was what H Frazer used to recommend as a wound dressing, in the past I've just used whatever gloss paint I have already opened.
There's plenty of inexpensive tree wound dressing available on ebay, and a few tutorials on yootoob on how to make your own

That's what I've always done ... shown to me by my dad when I was in my teens when he took a limb off an apple tree in the garden - it was still alive, nearly 60 years on, when I was last up there a few years ago.

 

[Beegarden]

Can anyone recommend a tree wound sealer please? It’s not something I have used before. I need to prune my parents magnolia tree as the new next door neighbour is being ‘difficult’. There are a couple of branches slightly overhanging the boundary and he is threatening all sorts. It’s the wrong time of year to prune and the wounds will leak if I don’t seal them. Leaving it is not an option as he will take matters into his own hands. Thanks

I have always used 'Prune and Seal' which incidentally, I used yesterday, buy after reading this .......... Tree Wound Dressing - Information On Using Dressing On Tree Wounds I wish I hadn't.

 

[E&MBees]

There was some kind of gummy wax used when I was a kid.Someone had cut a circle in the bark around the full circumference of one of the trees at school.
The old groundsman grafted fresh cut twigs and pushed them under the top and bottom edges of the cut and coated it with this stuff.
The work was a triumph and the tree still lives today.
It probably would have done anyway but that would precipitate in the parade.
I regularly trim limbs from trees for their own safety but never seal.Never have problems.
Most lifeforms that would take such advantage would do so without fresh cuts anyway.
If you are adamant why not try a beeswax and linseed oil mix

Do you know if the linseed is boiled or raw? Many thanks

 

[ericbeaumont]

boiled or raw?

Boiled contains chemicals to accelerate drying.

 

[ericbeaumont]

buy a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide

Why not use honey, which already contains hydrogen peroxide?

 

[Sutty]

From the above links I suspect the only potentially useful thing would be an antifungal.

 

[pargyle]

Why not use honey, which already contains hydrogen peroxide?

Better re-think that in light of the recent thread about open feeding !

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Can anyone recommend a tree wound sealer please? It’s not something I have used before. I need to prune my parents magnolia tree as the new next door neighbour is being ‘difficult’. There are a couple of branches slightly overhanging the boundary and he is threatening all sorts. It’s the wrong time of year to prune and the wounds will leak if I don’t seal them. Leaving it is not an option as he will take matters into his own hands. Thanks

We always painted the cut ends with gasworks tar.