Hi,

Just thought I’d share this because I thought it might be interesting or helpful to some people on here.

Exactly a year ago through an accident I split apart the fork/crotch of one of the branches on a Japanese Maple I’d only just planted, I tied it together at the split and higher up the branches immediately and went straight to the internet for suggestions as to what to do.

I came across a series of videos of people bolting together snow damaged branches so I though I’d try that out.

I bought a brand new 5mm drill bit and a 5mm stainless bolt (read that tight spaces leaves less room for infection and it can seal off better), cleaned it all, drilled a hole through the highest part of the split and installed the bolt.

I tighten the bolt till it had pressure and didn’t over tighten because I though that might do damage, I left 2 ties in place to help hold until the tree had grown a little, one at 4 inches above the split and the other about 2 foot, I didn’t girdle the branches with the tiles and just did one loop around both the branches.

I removed the ties at the start of the following summer and even with all the crazy storms we’ve had it’s held together, looks like it should be ok, here’s some photos of a year ago and now.