Red pine - double leader - cable?

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Grenfell

ArboristSite Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2005
Messages
84
Reaction score
1
Location
Ontario, Canada
On to my red pine...

It has a double leader. It's growing well and I'm starting to wonder if I should either trim off one of the leaders, or cable it, or leave it alone.

Any opinions? Thanks!

For diameter reference, I've attached an image of my hand on top of the trunk I would remove, if that is the best option.
 
If Red Pines in Canada have the same life expectancy as they do in S.E. Wisconsin, don't bother. Not to mention, if you tried to cut one half off, it wouldn't fall. The limbs are tangled together, and this tangling is why you never see a co-dominant pine (or spruce) split.
 
IMO, too late to remove one trunk. You can do lot of harm to the remaining one and will look next 20 years a tree with distorted shape.
 
cabling red pine?

pinus said:
IMO, too late to remove one trunk. You can do lot of harm to the remaining one and will look next 20 years a tree with distorted shape.

I agree, but you are being too kind - cutting one will leave a butt-ugly remainder and it will never regrow into a shapely tree.
 
They are growing fairly close together and the Y is placed well on the tree so I would not be concerned,I see trees like this all the time in the forest.Cable though could not hurt as suggested above.
 
Thanks again for all the excellent advice! Seems unaminous enough, I'll leave it alone for now and perhaps add a cable as it grows larger. I'll keep an eye on it.

Cheers,
Chris
 

Latest posts

Back
Top