Elder Tree: Pollarded or Butchered?

[Jungle Jake]

Hi All,

I live in a rented house which until recently had a lovely 12f
Elderflower tree growing at the bottom of the garden - that was unti
the landlord decided that it was overgrown and needed to be pruned. Fai
enough I thought, until to my horror when I came home from work one da
last week to find the tree has been chopped back to nothing more than
stump.

The tree is now 'leaking' what I presume to be watery sap (quit
copiusly) from the trunk/branches where it has been cut. I'm unsure wha
I should do as I have read somewhere that a tree 'sealant' should b
painted on the tree to stop it bleeding and defend against disease
though the RHS website states they no longer advise using sealants o
bandaging, so I don't know whether I should just leave the tree to hea
naturally, but I am worried that if don't do anything it might die.

Please help.

Jungle Jak


--
Jungle Jake

[Emery Davis]

Post by Jungle Jake
Hi All,
I live in a rented house which until recently had a lovely 12ft
Elderflower tree growing at the bottom of the garden - that was until
the landlord decided that it was overgrown and needed to be pruned. Fair
enough I thought, until to my horror when I came home from work one day
last week to find the tree has been chopped back to nothing more than a
stump.
The tree is now 'leaking' what I presume to be watery sap (quite
copiusly) from the trunk/branches where it has been cut. I'm unsure what
I should do as I have read somewhere that a tree 'sealant' should be
painted on the tree to stop it bleeding and defend against disease -
though the RHS website states they no longer advise using sealants or
bandaging, so I don't know whether I should just leave the tree to heal
naturally, but I am worried that if don't do anything it might die.
Please help.
Jungle Jake

Don't worry. Practically impossible to kill. It will now put out 3
meter shoots in all directions and look really untidy. Shame really,
but you could do some formative pruning as it goes.

Don't try to paint any sealant, just let it dry out on its own. It'll
be fine soon enough.

[n***@cam.ac.uk]

Post by Emery Davis

Post by Jungle Jake
I live in a rented house which until recently had a lovely 12ft
Elderflower tree growing at the bottom of the garden - that was until
the landlord decided that it was overgrown and needed to be pruned. Fair
enough I thought, until to my horror when I came home from work one day
last week to find the tree has been chopped back to nothing more than a
stump.
The tree is now 'leaking' what I presume to be watery sap (quite
copiusly) from the trunk/branches where it has been cut. I'm unsure what
I should do as I have read somewhere that a tree 'sealant' should be
painted on the tree to stop it bleeding and defend against disease -
though the RHS website states they no longer advise using sealants or
bandaging, so I don't know whether I should just leave the tree to heal
naturally, but I am worried that if don't do anything it might die.

Don't worry. Practically impossible to kill. It will now put out 3
meter shoots in all directions and look really untidy. Shame really,
but you could do some formative pruning as it goes.
Don't try to paint any sealant, just let it dry out on its own. It'll
be fine soon enough.

And considerably more out of control :-) Elder often isn't very
long-lived, anyway, because it seeds readily and grows like the
clappers as soon as it gets going. The most annoying thing will
be the loss of this year's flowers.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

[Sacha]

On 2012-05-19 14:04:36 +0100, Jungle Jake

Post by Jungle Jake
Hi All,
I live in a rented house which until recently had a lovely 12ft
Elderflower tree growing at the bottom of the garden - that was until
the landlord decided that it was overgrown and needed to be pruned. Fair
enough I thought, until to my horror when I came home from work one day
last week to find the tree has been chopped back to nothing more than a
stump.
The tree is now 'leaking' what I presume to be watery sap (quite
copiusly) from the trunk/branches where it has been cut. I'm unsure what
I should do as I have read somewhere that a tree 'sealant' should be
painted on the tree to stop it bleeding and defend against disease -
though the RHS website states they no longer advise using sealants or
bandaging, so I don't know whether I should just leave the tree to heal
naturally, but I am worried that if don't do anything it might die.
Please help.
Jungle Jake

If it's any consolation, the witches will get him. ;-)) However, to be
serious, this is a bad time of year to be cutting into trees. Not only
is the sap rising, birds can be nesting in them. And they will have
lost the berries they'd feed from later, too and you've lost the
flowers to make elderflower cordial. But the tree will probably act
as if coppiced and sprout again. Current thinking does seem to be that
it's best to let trees heal over naturally. This prevents a sealant
sealing in any infection.

[harry]

On May 19, 2:04 pm, Jungle Jake

Post by Jungle Jake
Hi All,
I live in a rented house which until recently had a lovely 12ft
Elderflower tree growing at the bottom of the garden - that was until
the landlord decided that it was overgrown and needed to be pruned. Fair
enough I thought, until to my horror when I came home from work one day
last week to find the tree has been chopped back to nothing more than a
stump.
The tree is now 'leaking' what I presume to be watery sap (quite
copiusly) from the trunk/branches where it has been cut. I'm unsure what
I should do as I have read somewhere that a tree 'sealant' should be
painted on the tree to stop it bleeding and defend against disease -
though the RHS website states they no longer advise using sealants or
bandaging, so I don't know whether I should just leave the tree to heal
naturally, but I am worried that if don't do anything it might die.
Please help.
Jungle Jake
--
Jungle Jake

Don't worry it will grow again with a vengence.

[Diggy]

Post by Jungle Jake
Hi All,
I live in a rented house which until recently had a lovely 12f
Elderflower tree growing at the bottom of the garden - that was unti
the landlord decided that it was overgrown and needed to be pruned. Fai
enough I thought, until to my horror when I came home from work one da
last week to find the tree has been chopped back to nothing more than
stump.
The tree is now 'leaking' what I presume to be watery sap (quit
copiusly) from the trunk/branches where it has been cut. I'm unsure wha
I should do as I have read somewhere that a tree 'sealant' should b
painted on the tree to stop it bleeding and defend against disease
though the RHS website states they no longer advise using sealants o
bandaging, so I don't know whether I should just leave the tree to hea
naturally, but I am worried that if don't do anything it might die.
Please help.
Jungle Jake

Hi Jungle Jake,

Sorry to hear about the loss of your elder tree! Elder is a pretty toug
plant though, and i suspect it will probably start to regrow from th
stump, despite it being butchered like that. The sap should stop risin
over the next few days, and in time new buds will start to appear an
grow. Luckily, the weather at the moment is so cool, the plant i
unlikely to be too stressed by this, but if it warms up you can als
give it some water and a feed of a nitrogen based fertiliser to hel
out. Any new growth won't flower or fruit this year as it flowers o
last years wood. Seems a very unnecessary thing to do to a tree that i
at the end of the garden - i only hope your landlord is as zealous wit
all aspects of property maintenance


--
Diggy

[Martin Brown]

Post by Jungle Jake
Hi All,
I live in a rented house which until recently had a lovely 12ft
Elderflower tree growing at the bottom of the garden - that was until
the landlord decided that it was overgrown and needed to be pruned. Fair
enough I thought, until to my horror when I came home from work one day
last week to find the tree has been chopped back to nothing more than a
stump.

Don't worry it will quickly regrow although a lot of it will be fast
sappy growth and rather boring looking. Part of the charm of an elder
are the old gnarled branches..

Post by Jungle Jake
The tree is now 'leaking' what I presume to be watery sap (quite
copiusly) from the trunk/branches where it has been cut. I'm unsure what
I should do as I have read somewhere that a tree 'sealant' should be
painted on the tree to stop it bleeding and defend against disease -
though the RHS website states they no longer advise using sealants or
bandaging, so I don't know whether I should just leave the tree to heal
naturally, but I am worried that if don't do anything it might die.
Please help.
Jungle Jake

There is no need to do anything as elder is tough as old boots.

Shame the tree wasn't tidied up a bit more sympathetically though. Still
on the plus side you can hang washing out without getting the birds
practising dive bombing with purple bombs!

[Dave Liquorice]

Post by Martin Brown
There is no need to do anything as elder is tough as old boots.

Does elder do a willow? ie hack a growing stem off and push it in the
ground to get a new tree.

[Martin Brown]

Post by Dave Liquorice

Post by Martin Brown
There is no need to do anything as elder is tough as old boots.

Does elder do a willow? ie hack a growing stem off and push it in the
ground to get a new tree.

I expect it very well might do, but it is a lot more rigid and so not
amenable to weaving as a living fence. I have never been tempted as I
spend enough time pulling out seedlings from our ~5m tree.

I also have the black cultivar with pinnate foliage but the cows eat
most of that down again almost as fast as it grows.

Incidentally elderflower champagne and wine are worth doing, elderberry
wine makes good drain cleaner but may take the finish off chrome!

[David WE Roberts]

Post by Martin Brown

Post by Dave Liquorice

Post by Martin Brown
There is no need to do anything as elder is tough as old boots.

Does elder do a willow? ie hack a growing stem off and push it in the
ground to get a new tree.

I expect it very well might do, but it is a lot more rigid and so not
amenable to weaving as a living fence. I have never been tempted as I
spend enough time pulling out seedlings from our ~5m tree.
I also have the black cultivar with pinnate foliage but the cows eat most
of that down again almost as fast as it grows.
Incidentally elderflower champagne and wine are worth doing, elderberry
wine makes good drain cleaner but may take the finish off chrome!

Elderberries and red grape concentrate together make a very robust red wine
which can be converted into a passable ersatz Port with a little cheap
brandy.

IIRC traditional proper Port used to be bulked out with elderberries in the
years when the grapes were poor.

Cheers

Dave R

[n***@cam.ac.uk]

Post by David WE Roberts
Elderberries and red grape concentrate together make a very robust red wine
which can be converted into a passable ersatz Port with a little cheap
brandy.

Life is too short to drink bad wine!

Post by David WE Roberts
IIRC traditional proper Port used to be bulked out with elderberries in the
years when the grapes were poor.

Not really. Elderberries make a very 'thin' wine, and were used
far more for colouring - indeed, I have seen them listed as
colouring agents in some modern foods or drinks. You can use them
for the same purpose yourself, though few people do nowadays - they
are a completely harmless and effective dark red colouring agent.

Elderberries and red grape concentrate would make a reasonable
plonk, but it is the latter which would give the wine its body.
Elderberries would also add tannin and similar flavours, if the
grape concentrate lacks those.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

[Bertie Doe]

Post by David WE Roberts
Elderberries and red grape concentrate together make a very robust red wine
which can be converted into a passable ersatz Port with a little cheap
brandy.

/Life is too short to drink bad wine!

Post by David WE Roberts
IIRC traditional proper Port used to be bulked out with elderberries in the
years when the grapes were poor.

/Not really. Elderberries make a very 'thin' wine, and were used
/far more for colouring - indeed, I have seen them listed as
/colouring agents in some modern foods or drinks. You can use them
/for the same purpose yourself, though few people do nowadays - they
/are a completely harmless and effective dark red colouring agent.
/
/Elderberries and red grape concentrate would make a reasonable
/plonk, but it is the latter which would give the wine its body.
/Elderberries would also add tannin and similar flavours, if the
/grape concentrate lacks those.

I've got both the 'nigra' and 'aurea' varieties. Handy if you can get a
couple of other allotment holders to split the cost. Buying from a Hedging
Company is the cheapest way. Hope to have fruit and elderberry port next
year.

[kay]

Post by Martin Brown
Incidentally elderflower champagne and wine are worth doing, elderberr
wine makes good drain cleaner but may take the finish off chrome!

Yorkshire Country Wines do a very good elderberry.
'Traditional Natural Fruit Wines - Yorkshire Country Wines
(http://tinyurl.com/cokqpqh)

So it is possible


--
kay

[Dave Liquorice]

Post by Martin Brown

Post by Dave Liquorice
Does elder do a willow? ie hack a growing stem off and push it in the
ground to get a new tree.

I expect it very well might do, but it is a lot more rigid and so not
amenable to weaving as a living fence.

Not interested in a living fence just think that it would be nice to
have a elder or three in the paddock. Will have to check if it will
tolerate the climate up here though.

Thinking that if it will take from a twig next time I pass one I'll
take a few cuttings and stick 'em in the ground or pot.

[Charlie Pridham]

Post by Dave Liquorice

Post by Martin Brown

Post by Dave Liquorice
Does elder do a willow? ie hack a growing stem off and push it in

the

Post by Martin Brown

Post by Dave Liquorice
ground to get a new tree.

I expect it very well might do, but it is a lot more rigid and so not
amenable to weaving as a living fence.

Not interested in a living fence just think that it would be nice to
have a elder or three in the paddock. Will have to check if it will
tolerate the climate up here though.
Thinking that if it will take from a twig next time I pass one I'll
take a few cuttings and stick 'em in the ground or pot.
--
Cheers
Dave.

Do Elders just after flowering, discard the soft tips then use the stems
nodally, they seem to root quite easily but some won't make it through the
winter.

[Christina Websell]

Post by Jungle Jake
Hi All,
I live in a rented house which until recently had a lovely 12ft
Elderflower tree growing at the bottom of the garden - that was until
the landlord decided that it was overgrown and needed to be pruned. Fair
enough I thought, until to my horror when I came home from work one day
last week to find the tree has been chopped back to nothing more than a
stump.
The tree is now 'leaking' what I presume to be watery sap (quite
copiusly) from the trunk/branches where it has been cut. I'm unsure what
I should do as I have read somewhere that a tree 'sealant' should be
painted on the tree to stop it bleeding and defend against disease -
though the RHS website states they no longer advise using sealants or
bandaging, so I don't know whether I should just leave the tree to heal
naturally, but I am worried that if don't do anything it might die.
Please help.
Jungle Jake

It's almost impossible to kill elders.
I had a problem with subsidence and every one that was near was cut down and
poisoned by having its trunk cut down.