Small Ginkgo Tree Loses Its Leader - IB2DWS - November 2024

One of my kids has started to fly a small, consumer-grade drone around our yard and garden.  They're just getting the hang of the thing - and starting to take a few risks by flying it higher and further away from where they're standing.  And...it has been going well.  We're getting some interesting photos of our garden and yard and even some from our our neighborhood.  They were out flying the drone recently and started to snap a few photos in our front yard.  Everything was going (and looking) good - here's some photos from the drone flight out the front of our house:

And then.....this happened:

That's static.  The drone got stuck in a large tree in our front yard.  About thirty feet up in the air.  Oh, no.  

Once I figured out where it was located, I grabbed a few footballs to try to knock it down.  After about 25 minutes and dozens of tosses (and some stuck footballs), I was able to get the drone down.  And...all the footballs.

But...we had one incident:  one of the footballs came down directly on TOP of the small Ginkgo tree that is planted IB2DWs and snapped the top of the tree right off.  By the top...I'm talking about the top 1" or so.  See below for the top of this tree - with a broken leader or apical meristem:

This is the small tree that I posted about in August where I remarked how it was doing SOOO well - with new growth.   Too bad, right?

It is NEVER a good time to 'top' a tree - by removing the leader.  But...there are a couple factors that exist that give me a little peace of mind.  What are those?

First...the time of year.  This tree is/has set buds for next year already.  It has NOT dropped all of its leaves, but some have come down.  It is already THINKING about next year.  

And...second:  the age of the tree.  This is a young, vigorous tree.  If *any* tree can bounceback, this one should bounce back.  

And...third:  my experience with espalier.  I've lop'd off the top of Lindens and Crabapple trees each year - late in Winter.  And...nature finds a way.  A new leader emerges and upright, upwards-oriented growth occurs.

The Penn State University Extension talks about this force of nature and how the tree is fighting for survival when it replaces its apical meristem:

After a tree is topped, it grows back rapidly in an attempt to replace its missing leaves. Leaves are needed to manufacture food for the tree. Without new leaves, the tree will die. The new branches that sprout up below the cuts will continue to grow quickly until they reach the same size it was before it was topped.

I only took off about an inch-or-so with the football, so I'm hoping I'll get that height back quickly in 2025.