Can you get a new branch to grow in the gap on your Christmas trees? Christmas tree farming
Hello rob here from the flanigan Homestead and east fork christmas tree Farms the question was asked can you get New branches to grow out of Old uh two or three year old bark or Even older On a christmas tree so we have a Reasonably nice tree right here Uh and then it’s got this big gap right In between here So uh years ago when i started christmas Tree farming i was told you know if you Were to strip the bark so you’re taking Off And getting into the cambium layer so You’re taking off the phloem the inner Bark And then you’re outside of the xylem Okay the sapwood and there’s a there’s Just a couple cells that are the cambium That are indeterminate they could go Either way supposedly if you were to cut That Just right at the right level those Being exposed To the outside would that could then now Grow new branches and so i tried this Multiple times and i was never Successful So uh in theory it sounds really good But uh to be honest with you i tried And it didn’t go go very well it’s not Like uh Deciduous trees like here in the pacific
Northwest you you know you cut Branches on a maple or an alder and they Get exposed to the sun And there’s always you know 20 year old Sections of trunk just New branches growing out the the Deciduous trees will do that but the Conifers which we have for christmas Trees Uh if you can get this to work Please let me know how you do it because I have tried and my short answer is no You cannot get A branch to grow out of the you know Two-year-old and even older Christmas trees what i have done though To save a tree like this And my wife and i i did it in our houses We took a tree like this home that was Really pretty everywhere else and we Just cut another branch off of a tree And then we just stripped the bark off Of the end of it there And very simply took a drill that Matched the size And we drilled into the trunk And then we just stuck the branch in There one that Matched the shape of the tree and i’ll Be honest with you it looked magnificent It was great so we We considered just doing that every year Just making perfect trees because we Could add branches wherever we want but
That’s not what we want to do we want to Grow perfect trees But uh that is a way to get another tree To work And you know obviously i’m not talking About grafting and getting them to grow In not doing it in the summer like i’m Out here sharing the trees now Recording this video but i’m talking About in december early december or late November we’re harvesting the tree There’s a hole there cut a branch stick It in there And uh i found where’d that branch go I found that because we stripped the Bark i think there’s actually i could be Crazy but a little bit of moisture Being drawn up the tree from our stand And into the branch It does dry out a little bit faster than The rest of the tree but not Significantly At least in our experience and so it Looks good so again obviously i would Not recommend Doing this to make a tree look good Without telling your customers you know You put on the shaker and your branches Are flying off or They do that but if someone’s really Liking a tree but there’s a hole say hey You know we’ve done it for a customer Before we could take care of that for You and we just drilled in and i said
You know stick this in when you get home And actually drill the hole for them They’re like great and so you know there Was Nothing hidden about it but we just told Them to do it and they did it and They really enjoyed it as well so No i don’t think you’re going to get a Branch to grow but there are ways to Make it look nice in your house So thanks for joining me on the flanigan Homestead where christmas trees are my Business Teaching including horticulture is my Job and outdoor projects are my passion Hope to see you again soon and i love Hearing from people where you’re farming How many acres you have what types of Trees you’re growing
