Expert: Jim Hyland - 4/17/2010

Question
I had to cut 10 feet off the top of a pine tree that was storm damaged. The bottom half will be nurtured to look like a big bush.  It seems to be coming back and budding.  What can I do to fertilize and help it along so it wont die??

Answer
It will depend on the size of the tee and the amount of top --foliage that was left. Generally a pine will need foliage that is more than 1/3 its original height. The foliage supplies the roots with food that is stored for the winter months and if more than this is cut off especially the top the tree has a hard time. I would water once a week with 1 inch of water --place a pan under the tree and turn the sprinkler on and when the pan has 1 inch of water in it stop. Also go ahead and fertilize the tree with 10-10-10 fertilizer at the rate of 1 lb of fertilizer per inch of trunk diameter scattered around the tree and watered in good. Fertilize just before a rain storm and you will not need top water. The one of the branches over time should grow taller than the others and this will become the new top. The tree will have a crook in the trunk where the new top took over. This will take several years to happen.

Young trees can recover very well-- older trees may not recover but is worth the try.