Straightening and Healing a Broken Branch in a Vine

A recent typhoon swept through our area this past week. It wasn't a particularly strong typhoon but it brought with it non-stop rains resulting in floods. One thing I noticed peculiar with this typhoon, at least in our area, is the presence of low but strong winds.

It is for this reason that many potted plants in our garden and at the sidewalk were toppled. One garden plant damaged by this typhoon is our newly repotted Bauhinia kockiana.


Broken Leader Branch from Typhoon

After the typhoon, I found a broken leader branch in one of our Bauhinia kockiana vines. This vine has been securely staked to the ground. The stake too was tied to a nearby fence grille. The top of the leader branch was no match, however to the strong winds. This top is essentially the topmost part of the main stem.

The portion didn't break off but was severely bent as shown inside the yellow circle below.


This is a newly repotted vine still at its growing stage. I wanted to salvage as much as I can from the damage.




I would estimate that half of the vine's cross-sectional area has been damaged. You could actually see the inside of the branch below the bark section.


The leader branch is still thin and green. It is maybe 1/8 of an inch thick. Since only half, or 1/16 of the diameter was damaged, I guessed that it would still heal.

But I wanted the branch to heal properly and not let the wound to heal with the branch in that awkward bent position. So the idea here was to straighten the branch and splint it. Because of its thinness, it is important that the splint is light enough not to overburden the branch.


How to Straighten and Heal a Broken Branch




Materials

  • Plastic Drinking Straw - 1 pc.
  • Twist ties or thin wires - To secure the plant to a stake
  • Bamboo rod - To be used as stake.

Procedure

  1. Slowly raise the bent and broken part of the stem and determine extent of the damage.

  2. Cut a 2" length of the plastic drinking straw.

  3. Cut a slit along the entire length of the 2" piece as show below.





  4. Wrap the plastic straw piece on the broken branch. Ensure that the wound is somewhere in the middle of the piece's length.


  5. Wrap another plastic straw piece from the opposite side of the branch, thus wrapping over the first piece as well. The second piece prevents the branch from slipping past the slit of the first piece. Because there are two pieces of straw in the photo below, the two pieces together appear darker than the one in the photo above.


  6. Notice from the photos above that the piece's bottom end rests on the crook where another branch is attached. If there is no other branch to rest the piece, then tie the piece securely with a twist tie and then attach it to the bamboo stake.


(See Part 2 for the continuation of this article)



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