About a month ago, the weight of an abundant crop of citrus broke a large branch of my prized tangelo tree (inherited from my father). I immediately cut off two of the smaller branches attached to it and have now removed all citrus from the tree. 1. Is it too late to splint (or whatever) the broken large branch that is still alive? 2. How does a novice go about doing that? Thanks so much for your assistance!
Is the tree a container or inground tree? You can splint it, but you will always have to be adjusting the splints to allow for growth and the limb will never be as strong. I would plan on ultimately replacing the limb with new growth, but you can leave the existing limb attached and let it help the tree produce a new limb. If you do that I would not let any new growth on the broken limb continue to grow (remove new shoots as they appear). Ultimately a new shoot should appear below the break and you can let that take over. New growth can replace the broken limb in less than a yr. When I attended a seminar on freeze protection for satsumas, the system that was suggested was a micro-jet sprinkler that protected the trunk and scaffold limbs. In severe freezes they expect to loose the entire outside part of the tree, but said that the tree would be back in full production in one yr.
It is an in-ground over 30-year-old tree. It is a fairly large limb. So I probably should not try splinting but, rather, the replacement process. Thank you so much for replying. I'll do my best.
A tree that large will replace the lost canopy fairly fast. Hopefully, you should have plenty of productivity from the rest of the tree as it regrows the lost canopy.
