New fastigiate sapling central leader branch broke off. Am I screwed?

[abc_1971]

Hello, all. I'm new to this forum and am hoping to get some sound advice about a possible concern regarding my newly planted trees. This past week I purchased seven fastigiate columnar trees called liquidambar "slender silhouette." I seem to be getting conflicting details about their overall growth habits. But they appear to grow anywhere from only 3ft wide to as much as 6-8ft wide but can grow as tall as 40ft tall or more. After doing a ton of research on trying to create a sort of living wall for privacy that doesn't take too much space I decided on this deciduous tree. I planted them 8ft apart and at the edge of our retaining wall. They're about 12" from the edge. 

 

My concern is that on two of the trees the central header branch is now bend and needs to be cut off. They were all approximately 8.5ft tall but the ones that broke at the top lost about 14". Since these trees are columnar and need to rely on a central header branch will this negatively affect their health and overall shape? Here's the thing, when I found these trees at a local nursery I saw them growing in pots under a very large tree. In other words they were growing in shade. I saw that the tops were not straight. The central headers were growing sideways with a very strong curve. They were not facing straight up. I wondered if they were "etiolating" since they were in complete shade as these trees require full sun. Once I got them home I began planting them in their permanent spot in full sun. I'm no tree expert but I am pretty savvy with most plants. And my guess is etiolated tops combined with transplant shock and also receiving a lot of sun they normally weren't used to led the tops to become so weakened that they literally just bent and snapped. I'm including photos for clarity. 

 

Due to losing their header branch will their shape be destroyed and will they be more susceptible to disease and structural problems? I haven't even had them for a full seven days and am wondering if I should insist on returning the damaged ones or can they be saved and grow well?

 

Hoping to get some sound advice, thanks.

 

Adrien 

 

 

[Stubby]

6 hours ago, abc_1971 said:

Hello, all. I'm new to this forum and am hoping to get some sound advice about a possible concern regarding my newly planted trees. This past week I purchased seven fastigiate columnar trees called liquidambar "slender silhouette." I seem to be getting conflicting details about their overall growth habits. But they appear to grow anywhere from only 3ft wide to as much as 6-8ft wide but can grow as tall as 40ft tall or more. After doing a ton of research on trying to create a sort of living wall for privacy that doesn't take too much space I decided on this deciduous tree. I planted them 8ft apart and at the edge of our retaining wall. They're about 12" from the edge. 

 

My concern is that on two of the trees the central header branch is now bend and needs to be cut off. They were all approximately 8.5ft tall but the ones that broke at the top lost about 14". Since these trees are columnar and need to rely on a central header branch will this negatively affect their health and overall shape? Here's the thing, when I found these trees at a local nursery I saw them growing in pots under a very large tree. In other words they were growing in shade. I saw that the tops were not straight. The central headers were growing sideways with a very strong curve. They were not facing straight up. I wondered if they were "etiolating" since they were in complete shade as these trees require full sun. Once I got them home I began planting them in their permanent spot in full sun. I'm no tree expert but I am pretty savvy with most plants. And my guess is etiolated tops combined with transplant shock and also receiving a lot of sun they normally weren't used to led the tops to become so weakened that they literally just bent and snapped. I'm including photos for clarity. 

 

Due to losing their header branch will their shape be destroyed and will they be more susceptible to disease and structural problems? I haven't even had them for a full seven days and am wondering if I should insist on returning the damaged ones or can they be saved and grow well?

 

Hoping to get some sound advice, thanks.

 

Adrien 

 

 

I felled a mature one in my dads garden and just left the stump ( probably 2ft dia at the ground . )  . This was 3 years ago or less .  The stump coppiced and it is now up were yours are now  so I would not be worried  about loosing a limb or part of one .

[monkeybusiness]

Did they get broken bringing them home from the nursery? 

They’ll straighten up no worries IME 

[AJStrees]

Liquidambar trees have quite or very brittle wood, they snap out very easily without the need for strong winds. Ours lose sections out of them regularly unfortunately. Nice trees but brittle wood. 

 

You mentioned you had planted them 12" away from your retaining wall. Not sure that they are going to be too happy rooting into such a small space. Don't want to dampen your enthusiasm for your project but the roots won't be able to go very far on the retaining wall side which will weaken the stability of the trees eventually. On a long term basis say 50 years or so the trees will be big by then. 

[abc_1971]

They did not break while bringing them home. They broke after they were in the ground when the plant started to severely wilt from the transplant shock. Like I said in my original post, the tops were not straight. They were growing at a sharp curve. 

[abc_1971]

I almost mentioned this in my first post. There was a horse chestnut tree we had cut down that was growing at the edge of the retaining wall. It was nearly 40ft tall and just as wide. We had to cut it down because it was dropping sap and spiky horse chestnuts on our cars and were also falling on a nearby roof deck where people like to hang out for recreational purposes. It's not pleasant to have those spiky fruits fall on  your head. Ouch!

 

So, although I'm not an arborist I believe that my new liquidambars will do just fine growing in the same spot.

 

My main concern is feeling comfortable letting two of these saplings grow after the central header broke off. 

[Mick Dempsey]

I wouldn’t worry about it, they’ll get new leaders very quickly, and in that position they will not last more than 15/20 years before they have to come out.

Edited September 1, 2019 by Mick Dempsey