Sealing holes in a living tree?

[scottmandue]

The post about the pecan tree had me thinking.
I fertilized and trimmed my avocado tree per the advice I got here and now I am seeing a nice crop of baby avocados starting thanks to your good advice.

When I was trimming off the dead branches I noticed some of the places where branches had previously been cut looked a bit rotted and when I poked at them I found a few had cavities a few inches deep.

What would be the best thing to use to fill those up?


TIA

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I think there's a commercially available kind of pitch or tar that arborists use (sort of a black resin-looking stuff) but someone else might know more about this.

[rouxroux]

Yep. The arborist who visited me told me all about that stuff. It's pretty critical to get it done quickly so nothing can harm the inside of the tree. Mine was just too far gone to support the remaining weight of the tree to just 1/2 of the trunk base. Best of luck.

[scottmandue]

Thanks... that is exactly what I was thinking, I was toying with the idea of using roofing tar/mastic (Henry's) because I have a gallon of that kicking around the garage but if I can find some specifically made for trees I will use it.

[NICKG]

cement works....bion

[gr8fl4porsche]

I've used spray paint to seal up cut off branches with no ill effects.

[azasadny]

Anything that seals off the exposed "pulp" will keep the damage from getting worse and keep insects/animals from digging in there and causing more damage.

[nota]

WELL SOMETIMES
we had 75 year old avocados that were HUGE
they were trimed by hurricanes in a ragged fashion
had large rotten spots some patched with cement or tree tar
but they just keep growing and regrew over the worse bad spots
ANDREW AND A SMALL TWISTER REDUCED ONE 75FT TREE
to less then 25 feet but it grew back just fine even with nasty spiral dammage as we had too much other stuff to do right after the storm then mess with trees
and I note the growers cut their trees way back to make picking eazyer and rarely patch or tar
your milage may vary

[Spin City]

Here's what I use. Got a quart about 3 years ago. It works great for sealing pruned limbs and grafts.

Morrison's Tree Seal

edit: Says it contains asphalt and it smells like roofing tar so your idea would probably work.

[89911]

I used a heavy duty expanding foam to repair a void in a maple that was being overrun with carpenter ants. I did this about 10 years ago and it still remains in a few places, but the tree has mostly grown over the injury. I sprayed it with some grey paint to hide it and you could never tell.

[masraum]

I read a book on plants put out by the Univ of FL or maybe it was Fl State, and it said "don't bother, the trees will do just fine by themselves." The basic idea is that the whole sealant thing is pretty much a myth. Trees do as good or better without. Bugs will get in or they won't and spraypaint won't stop them.

I'm no expert, just relaying what I read.

[scottmandue]

I was just wondering if the roofing tar/mastic is any different than tree tar. The tree has been in the family around thirty years and is possibly around sixty or seventy years old. It is very well loved by friends and family so I would hate to do anything bad to it.

Funny thing about pruning... when my dad owned the house he pruned the lower branches to make it easier to walk under. Now I am pruning the upper branches to make the avocados easier to pick.