I have five mature white pines 50-75ft. tall that have been damaged by a recent ice storm. Basically all the limbs on trees have been broken off 10 feet from the top all the way to the ground except for the south side of the tree which all remain. The limbs which were broken left stubs about two feet long from the trunk and there is no damage where this stub attaches to the trunk. Some of these broken stubs have small branches coming off of them ( six to 10 inches long 1/4 inch dia). Is there any chance that these small branches will ever develop into a large limb to help balance the shape of the tree? Should I postpone any heavy pruning on these trees until the weather moderates ( in the 20's-30's). They sort of look like telephone poles now! If pictures would help I will try to post. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks Dave
The small branches will develop into new large limbs, but you're talking about a long, slow process, maybe 30 years or so before they are any size, and they'll never fully match the size of the unbroken ones. You'll have to decide for yourself whether you like the 'rugged effect', or whether to remove the trees outright and plant new trees. Personally, I'd keep them, rugged old trees with natural breakage like this get to look very nice - here's an old tree of the closely related Macedonian Pine: http://www.pinetum.org/PhotoMPF/oldpeuce.gif Note that if you want to keep the trees, the undamaged branches should not be shortened to 'balance' the crown - doing so would remove what little crown the trees have left, and would almost certainly kill them. Best not to do any pruning at all - ice storm damage is a natural phenomenon, and the trees have had millions of years of adapting to survive the damage it causes.