Evergreen tree has damaged branch. What should I do about it?
Question:I have a 3 to 4 year old Blue Spruce Evergreen tree on my property. It looks fantastically healthy this season, but I think a branch was damaged recently when some hot building materials were placed near it. The whole tree looks fine with the exception of the one branch. What should I do? Should I cut off the branch? Or just leave it?
Thanks.
Answers:
Leave it alone for the time being, it may not be dead yet.
See what it looks like in a few months. If no knew growth has emerged remove it then, but no reason to remove it now if your not sure if it is dead.
If you would like to see if it is dead, carefully scrape away a small piece of bark with your fingernail. If you see a green layer between the bark and wood, it is still alive. You will have to do this in several spots since the inner part of the branch may be fine while the outer part is dead.
Leaving a dead branch on will not harm the tree, so I'd say leave it and see what happens. You can cut it later if you have to. Remember, its easier to cut a branch off then it is to grow a new one.
Just bite the bullet and cut it off. We have had to do that with several of our evergreen trees that seem to get some damage every now and then. Believe me, it looks better to have the yellow/brown dead off of a nice green tree. If the whole branch is not dead looking, just cut back the dead looking part.
cut it off! it'll never recover! (i mean the branch won't recover)
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