Forest Pansy Redbud tree wind damage cut down now getting leaves near base

JeffN1966

I had recently had a Forest Pansy Redbud planted in my yard. We had a strong wind storm which basically snapped it in two. I cut the tree down to almost the bottom at the root as I did not think it would survive. I have an irrigation system installed and it has been getting water regularly for the past month since the storm. This weekend I noticed that on the sides of the trunk where I cut it down there are a large number of leaves. Will it continue to grow? Is it possible it will become a shrub instead of a tree? Not sure what to do with it...
I can posy pictures if needed. any advice would be appreciated.

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Joey Meister

if allowed to grow it will just become a big shrub, or you can chose one healthy stem and train it to be a nice tree. i had a similar problem where my forest pansy redbud had severe winter die back, but i am training a new leader from the branches coming out of the base. under the right conditions these trees grow fast so you may have a nice size tree in just a few years

JeffN1966

Thanks for the reply, I think I will let it grow and see what happens, it was a gorgeous looking tree and was standing out very nicely.
I'll post a picture of the leaves coming out of the trunk tomorrow.

James Taylor

hi, looks like you might have had the tree staked to tightly, as the point of failure was exactly where the tie met the trunk. it looks like the tree was trying to bend in the wind but the rope tie prevented it from being able to do so and it just snapped.

Unless the tree is very unstable staking should be avoided it tends to do more harm than good, for a tree to develop a good strong root system it needs to be able to move around in the wind so it can react to this force by strengthening the root system.

Be aware that the shoots coming up from your new tree can be weakly attached to the base and are more prone to failure in the future.

good luck