A Tale of Two Trees

I live on the edge of the high plains of Colorado.  We are on the border of a harsh area. It is windy. It is dry. It can be very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter.  The soil is either sandy or clay, neither of which have much naturally occurring organic matter that helps sustain plant life.  Only the toughest plants survive. Trees are often only found in areas along streams or in pockets among folds in the undulating prairie where moisture might collect.  As you drive through the prairie you will also see clumps of trees off in the distance that mark a homestead established many years ago, perhaps before the dust bowl era. I can only imagine the stories the trees could tell!

 The lovely(?) deer are resting among some of the older trees at our new house. These are the types of trees you might see dotting the countryside. However, a bit further east of this house you wouldn't see the naturally occurring pines - all you'd have is prairie grasses and a few scrub oaks and possibly current bushes.


Trees are a precious commodity here, cared for and coddled, and certainly never taken for granted. Our new home has two red maple trees that may have been planted as recently as six years ago. If that assumption is correct, the trees would have been very expensive, based on their size.

Someone at some point loved those trees, but they are now the victims of neglect. I'm writing this entry to show you my trees (OK, for most of you this probably sounds very silly, but coming from the plains where the only trees around are those planted by someone...we value our 'tall' plants!)  but more importantly, to seek suggestions and advice from all of my farm friends and farm girls that may know something about trees!

Here are the trees. They anchor our garden area which is enclosed by a picket fence.

The tree on the right is not so much a victim of neglect, but a victim of it's species. The tree has a co-dominant trunk. Maples often do this.

At some point, maybe in last April's heavy snow storm, the weight or the wind, partially split the tree at the junction of the two trunks.

This is a very weak point in trees like Maples.  It looks like the tree's resources have begun to repair the damage at the base of the wound. However, the top of the split still has raw, open wood. I doubt that it will be able to heal, especially as the tree leafs out and the wind has more to grab.  So I am having an internal debate, well, and yes, a debate with my hubby about what we should do.... and when.

1. We can ignore the split and hope that it continues to mend (and hope that it doesn't split down to the base some day during a storm.)
2. We can cut off one of the co-dominant trunks. Probably the one on the right.
3. We can drill a hole and put a bolt through both trunks to try to stabilize them.
4. Your thoughts??

The tree on the left has a different set of issues.

Generally I've been told to cut suckers off. No problem. But, my information on pruning cautions against pruning off branches that are larger than two inches diameter as it might leave the tree with less resources

Some of the suckers are that size, or larger. Might it cause the same problem? So my options with this tree include:

1. Cut all of the suckers off.
2. Cut half of the suckers off this year and half next year.
3. Do nothing and enjoy my Maple bush!

FarmGirls and Farm Friends... I'd love to hear your ideas and suggestions. I also plan to visit other's sites. Click on the links below to do the same!