smoke tree

 Have a big smoke tree in front of the house, but only the west-facing
main brances are still alive, couple of big branches are dead (hard to
tell from any distance!).  Any chance of new growth there, when I cut
them off?  Or do I have to replace the whole thing?

Thanks.

(Long Beach, CA 90807)

J.

 wrote:


Scratch the dead looking branches and if they are dead they'll be
brittle and brown.  If there is still life in the plant on that side
the scratch will reveal green.  If they are dead branches, that's it.

What has happened near the root zone of that plant in recent years.
Any construction, or heavy equipment driven over the area, or any
herbicide drift from spraying on other plants nearby?

 wrote:


But if I chop off the branches at the trunk, is it likely to sprout
again, or is there something I can do to encourage it?  



Some adjoining shrubs were removed on one side, and some rosemary
groundcover grew up on the other.  Besides that, it's possible it was
getting insufficient water from the irrigation system - if it's
possible to harm a smoke tree that way, we did have a very dry year in
2007.  I can't say quite when the branches died, likely a season or
two ago.

J.

 wrote:


If y ou chop off to the trunk it will not branch out again on that
side unless it has life on that side, thus my answer to figure out if
the branches have green in them.



Sounds like root damage, stress and additional stress with drought.
Not rocket science.  If half is dead, it's not going to branch out on
that side again.  If the shrub is small enough to be taken out and
replaced, that may be what you have to do.  Still, check if it is
truly dead.

 JXSTERN
Good questions.  When pruning I would suggest my site that I wrote for
people with questions like yourself.  The site is free of course.  Its my
way of paying my little debt to society.  Once viewing the site if you have
any questions, I'm sure you will, please do not hesitate to contact me and I
will make the answer to your question a part of the website. Removing
symplastless (often called dead) branches is a health treatment for the tree
if done correctly.  I call them symplastless to clearly address the living
content of symplastless wood in a tree farm or forest.  A downed
symplastless tree could be made up of 30 some % fungi cells alone.  Not very
dead.  I take it your goal is the health of the tree.  Sometimes in forest
management treatments not excepted for trees in an urban environment are
beneficial for the system.  E.g., a flush cut with wound dressing applied
can cause rot or decay and a cavity for small wildlife.  However it's not
the best treatment for a common specimen urban tree, for health
improvements.  Great for the system though.  So much to learn about nature,
its rules, and its exceptions to those rules.

Sorry for the bother.

I have put together a website on pruning.  I am still
working on the section on branches and cracks.  I will be getting some
pictures of cracks to add.  Any feed back (productive positive criticism)
is welcome.

http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/tree_pruning/index.html


--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Forester & Tree Expert
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and  www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.