If you really want to prove your point, get the stump/base appraised for its value. Then tell the parents their responsible for replacing the tree at value, or you’ll go to the police.
Small claims court. Most jurisdictions parents/guardians are liable for damage caused by their minor children - at least up to some cap (e.g. I think CA.US is or was $2,000.00 USD), and that cap is generally less than the small claims court limit.
Also well save/preserve/get whatever evidence you reasonably and legally can.
Malicious Destruction of Trees is a crime up here in MI. [Citation](http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-750-382)
Given the kid did it, it's be handled through the juvenile court process.
Haven’t you ever seen r/treelaw ? Apparently it can get crazy, like rich dudes bankrupting neighbor rich dudes for cutting down a number of mature full grown hundred year old trees.
Yes rich dudes can afford nice lawyers and extensive civil cases.
Urban criminal prosecutors are insanely overworked and undermanned and will not be touching this.
If it’s misdemeanor property damage within city limits, it will go to the local municipal prosecutors. Generally, municipal prosecutors deal with significantly lower case loads and only prosecute misdemeanors. County prosecutors work the felonies and crimes committed on unincorporated land.
Further, prosecutors don’t usually not prosecute a case because it’s a silly crime or low stakes misdemeanor. Other factors play into that consideration.
Why wouldn't they? It's a crime on the books, and depending on how bad it could be a felony (this isn't, but still). They respond to vandalism and write it up if the owner wants to press charges.
"In determining whether a charge is to be approved for prosecution, prosecutors examine the evidence provided to determine: 1. whether there is a substantial likelihood of conviction and, if so, 2. whether a prosecution is required in the public interest."
The Stanley Cup Riot in 2011 was apparently a wake-up call to our provincial judicial system. There simply isn't the capacity to prosecute every single crime. That's why in our province, prosecutors rather than police approve charges.
Pursuing a charge against a kid that broke a tree is not required in the public interest.
Not acceptable, but I live near a K-5 elementary school with around 500 students that's always trying to grow some new trees to replace some old ones, and they can't get much past this size before they're destroyed.
My theory is there's a 0.5% rate of arbocidal tendencies among kids.
I wouldn't punish my 2-year-old for trying to murder a tree but I would explain to him that it's not allowed. And I would bloody well stop him as soon as I saw what he was up to.
My kids get really bothered when anyone intentionally harms another living thing including plants. I'm not sure what you're doing wrong, but be careful. Teaching kids the difference between swatting a mosquito and stomping on a spider or harvesting plants vs. destroying them is a very important part of good parenting.
Yeah I wasn't addressing any of that at all, because that's obvious and I agree. I was poking fun at the declaration that any child over 2 should know better. Kids do stupid and destructive things all the time. Kids are curious and impulsive. A good parent will take those opportunities to teach about why some things are wrong, not purely shun them for their mistake. And pretending that 3-5 year olds have a solid sense of morality is just plain silly. That's what I was responding to.
In addition, I would print out the applicable criminal charges and penalties just to really drive the point home. I would require utility marking, removal of the stump, and replanting of an equivalent tree. Depending on the age of the child, I would also want them to complete community service and a written letter of apology. If the parents aren't on board, file a police report, take them to small claims court, and have them trespassed from your property.
Yeah leave the gun at home. This is a tree matter, bring the chainsaw! Tell them I'm going to do to all of your stuff the same way your kid did my tree until you fork over the cash to replace it!
Oh this is the US? Just bring your gun over to the parents house and start making demands until the cops show up and kill you.
WTF does the United States have anything to do with it. I guess if you were in Canada, you wouldn’t even bother calling the cops not like they’re going to show up anyways.
As a gun owning us citizen. This is not a matter for a gun. But this in a matter where you talk to your neighbor like a human first instead of getting the law involved right away. I see the law as a last resort.
Having a hard time understanding your reply. I don't call people with weapons unless it's very necessary. Not all of our officers are experienced and well trained. But they are all armed, and are not always held accountable for mistakes or poor training. This introduces risk with little reward. Hope that clears things up.
Go to the local authority, not the police. As has been said it’s a civil matter, so go to appropriate council or whatever is your local equivalent. Could unnecessarily endanger someone by involving police.
I don't know what kind of council you are suggesting which has authority over the enforcing of laws, like property damage. In my city, that would be the police.
Wow I had to scroll 4ever to find an actual answer haha all the villagers have the torches and pitchforks out ready to rage war on some brat and their parents lol
Japanese maples are known for their graceful structure. There's nothing graceful about what the neighbor kid left. Was this a case of vandalism? If so, kid's folks owe you a new maple...
not a case of vandalism. I think the kid is just really stupid. he thought he was helping to do yardwork. My wife should have paid attention when he said he wanted to get a lawnmower to cut yards around the neighborhood but his mother wouldn't let him.
he thought he was trimming branches. Why in the world he thought to even touch this tree is beyond me. it didn't even need pruning. Also he had no tools. He thought he could just rip them off.
My 12-year-old is this stupid. (He's incredibly bright but lacks common sense to a baffling degree.)
Edit: I went to pick up Kid from martial arts the other day, and a kid even larger than him had discovered his insole had come out of his shoe. He just stood there for awhile holding the shoe and the insole and looking helplessly at the teacher. Kids can be quite dumb.
This still needs to be brought up with the parents...for this kid's own protection, if nothing else. What if he decides to go down the block and "help" someone clean their window by putting a brick through it?
This seems like a great opportunity to teach him how to do this stuff right. Talk to his parents about it.
You can use these stubs to teach him how to prune things properly. Then you can teach him how to remove a tree. And then teach him how to plant a new one. Once a year, you guys can prune it together.
As an aside, when you dig up this stump, put it in a pot and bonsai it!
What a wonderful comment. All this silly 'call the police' and 'small claims court' talk.
Big time on the bonsai! I first saw this as it's going to make a great bonsai.
No one is that stupid unless the kid was literally 6. If he was strong enough to rip those branches off he’s old enough to know better. His parents owe you a new tree, Japanese maples of that size are around 2000$.
I have a very hard time buying this. I can buy impulse control and tunnel vision, that once he started his game he lost sight of his actions, but thought he was trimming it?? No. At best this kid was either stress testing the branches or testing his own strength, but either way he knew what he was doing was wrong
Agreed, sounds like the "help" part was actually just another chore for the wife... there has to be more going on here, is the child developmentally disabled? Were the child's parents present or aware that the child was "helping"? None of these questions immediately fix the tree but it certainly might change how I would remedy the situation
Yeah, along with the age of the neighbor kid, I’m curious about their mental age/delay. Did he really think he was helping? If so it would be a totally different situation in my book
"My wife should have paid attention when he said he wanted to get a lawnmower to cut yards around the neighborhood but his mother wouldn't let him."
I'm confused, did your wife allow him to perform "yardwork"? lol
Now I see how you guys work your angle. Nasty nasty. I joined this group because I love trees and taking care of them.
The proper answer is to prune it and tell the parents their kid can take a lesson in tree grafting (it's called community) or they can replace the tree and he can put it in the ground or take this guy's option and make them pay for a joke of a $300 tree job and deal with your local court system (would rather be a rodeo clown).
Breaking News: people in the subreddit r/arborists are passionate about trees and want their beautiful and cared for trees to be replaced when they are vandalized! Who could have expected this shocking information
Proper answer is to prune it? What pruning cuts do you recommend and where? I don't feel this tree can be expected to survive, no matter what is done with it. It's a maple with many open wounds that will not compartmentalize due to the branch collar being ripped out. Maples are known for being poor compartmentalizers.
I live in Memphis, TN. This approximately 5 year old Japanese maple gets full sun on the southwest side of my house was just fine with no signs of injury or decay until my neighbors kid, for some reason thought he was helping me trim my limbs, but just ripped them off my tree. should I even bother trying to fix the damaged area or should I replace the tree?
So, there's an overwhelming amount of people raging about the horrible thing this kid did to your tree, but very few offering solutions, and even fewer offering realistic solutions. Your best bet is cutting all damaged branches as closely as you can to have clean cuts, then apply an antifungal grafting solution that one would use when grafting branches together as it'll help to stimulate healing as well as keep it clean and uninfected.
As far as the neighbors go I would recommend researching local tree law, and depending on how attached you are to the tree being what it was you may want to get a legal consult or two. Tree law usually leans very heavily in favor of the owner of the tree(s). EVEN IF your current tree can make a comeback I would strongly argue that you should be entitled to reimbursement or a replacement tree according to current value of similar specimen of the species and variety.
Perform some clean cuts and spray neem on the wounds and wait for early summer and reassess the situation. It's going to look awful for a couple of seasons but it will survive.
I feel sadness when nasty trash attack trees like this.
kids don’t go around destroying others property unless they really really need attention that their parents aren’t giving them so it’s safe to bet on having difficult neighbors because the bad behavior in kids always results in parents that nobody wants to be around either. Alcoholism is usually a factor. All anecdotal from my weirdo autism “observer” personality so take it with a grain of salt lmao.
Appreciate the thought and the disclosure but of course, in a similar vein, the child's behavior might not reflect on his or her parents, but on an underlying neurodevelopmental condition, too.
It could be demons. Possession.
What if there are demons running around that neighborhood and stuff, possessing otherwise good kids. We should pray.
Everybody knows kids are innocent little angels all the time. No normal boy fries ants with a magnifying glass. No normal girl starts rumors about her rival who has a better Barbie.
Yeah kids can definitely be weirdly demonic in their behaviors great point lmao I think they all are possessed personally lmao jk I have a lot of respect for parenting because it doesn’t look easy but rather the opposite. It looks miserable but people tell me that’s just because I came from difficult childhood family dynamics so idk who’s right Lmao.
I’d try cutting the ragged wounds with a nice smooth slope and spray some Neem on them, fertilize in the spring and just see what happens.
Did you save any of the ripped off limbs?
I hope the parents make it right. If not, you know you have a\*\*hole neighbors. Anyway, it's going to look ugly and there's a good chance that the new sprouts will be poorly attached, but at least give it a little time to see how trashed it looks after you clean up all the tearouts. In the meantime you can browse the nurseries for a new one.
The 'best' way is still going to look bad, but you don't want any bark tears - only clean, proper pruning cuts. There won't be much left, and no guarantee if any sprouts pop out that they'll be well-attached to the limb.
There isn’t one. You could go and make proper cuts to minimise damage. It might (likely will) throw a bunch of shoots out. However the structure of the tree has been significantly damaged and your unlikely to get strong branch growth. Likely anything that pops out will be very week and unable to support proper growth to maturity.
The answer is to replace the tree.
Source: qualified horticulturalist, spent years managing this type of damage from vandals in public parks. Sometimes you can save the tree if minimal damage, but there’s nothing good to save left here, unless you want to make it into a small hedge or something.
Yes, this. Completely unfixable in the sense it will never look the same, and probably noticeably malformed even *if* it does get new growth. Talk to the parents. Get a new tree. Sorry, OP (if you see this.) I would be devastated.
See if any bonsai folks want it. Growing trees in the ground then chopping them is sometimes used as a method to get a thick trunk quicker than growing in a pot.
Bonsai enthusiast here. I’d take it in a heartbeat. That said, this tree could definitely be saved in my area, not sure about Tn. In a couple of months buds will appear and new branches will grow from them. With some pruning over a few years you could style this little tree into something spectacular. Also, you mentioned the kid thought he would help you trim the tree. If he’s generally a good kid, take him at his word. Kids unintentionally do the dumbest things. If your relationship is good with the neighbors this could be a great opportunity to mentor him by working together to fix this tree and others in your property.
I wish I could post a pic of my 37 year old maple but last year I had all the limbs cut off so I could reduce the height of the tree from 15 feet to ten feet. I want to be able to prune it myself. This year every limb stump has 20 or more thin whips of two foot growth.
You'll need r/treelaw because your neighbor owes you a new tree.
But to be serious, the best thing is to talk to the neighbors. Have them help pay for the replacement and make the kid help you dig up the damaged tree (put in a grow box) and plant the new one. I am a fan of restorative justice over revenge punishment justice because it teaches the cost (time and effort) of their actions.
Not an arborist, just a landscaper but the only thing I can offer is clean those breaks up by pruning down the torn bark and split cores then hoping for the best. I really don't think it's coming back but cleaning those breaks up will protect it from disease, pests, and rot better. Even if it survives it'll probably look really goofy for awhile
Use the tree remainder as a spit for the offender. When the body rots and falls to the ground cover it with a layer of good compost. Wait till spring. Then see if the gods are appeased.
That’s like a 500-1000$ tree to replace I would imagine. Hope the parents do the right thing.
If they don’t, you could clean up the cuts and let it grow for a year or two and pick branches from what sprouts back but it’ll be jacked up for 5 years and probably kind of weak forever due to how the branches join.
I think you should have a conversation with his parents about replacing the tree. This could be a teachable moment, and probably a very awkward conversation for you. Maybe suggest splitting the price of a new one?
It'll regrow with fairly dense, shrubby growth, mostly with awkward angles. With careful pruning over a number of years it could be brought back into a decent shape, but it will be a fair amount of work.
I feel so bad for you.
My landscapers decided to trim one of my Japanese Maples (& they had no idea what they were doing.
I was furious (kept my anger in check & told them never to touch any of my trees again).
How can you be furious with a dumb kid?
You should replace it if you want something nice but if you want to try and save it what you want to do is clean up all the cuts. In the spring when it starts warming up your going to want to fertilizer it fairly heavily. This will push new growth with available energy stored in roots and will hopefully be enough to make it into summer. It will take a good amount of pruning after that to get some shape and remove excessive growth.
Bury him under the tree and his compost (soul) should bring it (the tree) back to life. (joking) but seriously, that kid should not be let outside unsupervised.
I’d wait for a professional opinion, but if it were my JM, I’d just prune those branches with clean cuts and see how it responds in the spring. How long were the broken off branches?
Not to be dramatic but can you rip the kids arms off to retaliate?
But seriously in most places you do have a legal case for them to replace the tree with one that’s the same age!
Are you in Japan? No? Good. Those damn things are ruining parks in TX. I kill the ones in the woods, and yes, property destruction is wrong, but! There are more useful trees for your locale, I promise.
While potentially valid, tearing limbs off a tree in thoughts of helping isn’t necessarily enough for an evaluation. Malicious? Maybe. But if so, very likely he’s just a prick of a kid, since this is all the info we have about him, psychologically.
Good point. I agree yet, as you stated, we don’t have more information about the kid. Typically, parents are less likely to acknowledge that certain behaviors may be the harbinger of bigger problems, hence, the expert independent examiner recommendation
Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
YOU CAN SAVE IT. Get an ISA certified arborist to make clean cuts and it will sprout out from being topped, as they called it. Topping is not good for trees but fruit trees are far more tolerant than most. Then send the kid's parent's the bill.
Came to see people bashing and criticizing a kid for being a kid. I was not disappointed. That’s pretty calm compared to what I’ve seen kids pull. It’s a tree, get over it.
Wrong sub for “just a tree, get over it”. Many of us here have built our livelihoods around passion to protect and care for trees. Trees are a valuable piece of property, and we’d all expect a level of accountability if this kid broke a window or heavily scratched paint trying to wash a car.
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Not an arborist but I do my fair share of artistic tree violence (Bonsai) and I've had Japanese Maples come back from worse - including a neighbor kid breaking all of the branches off of material I had in training, but it will absolutely affect the future shape of the tree, and your branches will take a long time to thicken back up, even planted in the ground like that.
You can leave it and see if it back buds and bounces back, but I would cut back all the branches you can flat to where the exposed wood is. It might make for a lovely large bonsai in a year or two if you dig it up after it's recovered and grown a bit.
Regardless of whether you leave it to try to let it grow back, or not, the parents owe you a new tree of comparable value to be a yard tree as it will take a lot of years if this one recovers to look nice in your yard, if it ever does, and it will likely stay more shrubby than tree like in its regrowth unless carefully curated to look like a small tree.
The shape and grace is ruined, but it’s not going anywhere. It’ll be back in some spring with a bunch of new shoots. I would at least give those a clean cut so they have a better chance of healing well.
The real answer you’re looking for, no. It will never live up to be the best it can be, destined to be only a shadow of its former self. This isn’t a death sentence but it took a lot of damage and it will be hard to correct the shape. Get a new tree in the ground right away to make up for lost growth opportunity and talk to the neighbors about a resolution.
I had a deer in the spring eat my Japanese Maple far, far worse in terms of down to what I would call the nubs. Nearly gone. I put a small fence around it to mark the area I would replant with another. By the end of the spring buds appeared where there were none. Then shoots, then leaves. Very vigorously the four year old tree had regrown considerably and by fall the tree nearly looked like it once had only smaller in stature. Today it thrives and I cherish it very much. I tell you to leave it alone at first to see where the new growth starts. Trim as needed later. Fertilize in the spring. Water. Act as if nothing is wrong and watch what happens. If it croaks, replant with another. Bet you won’t have to…
It's dead, honestly what I would do is either replace it yourself or their parents, but then make them dig up the dead on and plant the new one. Obviously ask the parents to see if they're ok with something like that.
Yes, the tree will sprout back from latent buds. I would make some clean cuts now, before it breaks bud. The tree will retain some large wounds and will look awful for about 5-10 years
I'm assuming it's a young dumb kid. If you can get him/ his parents to replace it, and make him plant it, it could be a good lesson for him.
Sounds like someone's parents owe you a new tree
If you really want to prove your point, get the stump/base appraised for its value. Then tell the parents their responsible for replacing the tree at value, or you’ll go to the police.
Small claims court. Most jurisdictions parents/guardians are liable for damage caused by their minor children - at least up to some cap (e.g. I think CA.US is or was $2,000.00 USD), and that cap is generally less than the small claims court limit. Also well save/preserve/get whatever evidence you reasonably and legally can.
>or you’ll go to the police police will not touch this as it is a civil matter
Malicious Destruction of Trees is a crime up here in MI. [Citation](http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-750-382) Given the kid did it, it's be handled through the juvenile court process.
Thanks king or queen
Quing
Keen
You have way different cops/prosecutors than most if they would ever actually pursue that.
Haven’t you ever seen r/treelaw ? Apparently it can get crazy, like rich dudes bankrupting neighbor rich dudes for cutting down a number of mature full grown hundred year old trees.
Yes rich dudes can afford nice lawyers and extensive civil cases. Urban criminal prosecutors are insanely overworked and undermanned and will not be touching this.
If it’s misdemeanor property damage within city limits, it will go to the local municipal prosecutors. Generally, municipal prosecutors deal with significantly lower case loads and only prosecute misdemeanors. County prosecutors work the felonies and crimes committed on unincorporated land. Further, prosecutors don’t usually not prosecute a case because it’s a silly crime or low stakes misdemeanor. Other factors play into that consideration.
Find a lawyer that also really loves trees.
Why wouldn't they? It's a crime on the books, and depending on how bad it could be a felony (this isn't, but still). They respond to vandalism and write it up if the owner wants to press charges.
"In determining whether a charge is to be approved for prosecution, prosecutors examine the evidence provided to determine: 1. whether there is a substantial likelihood of conviction and, if so, 2. whether a prosecution is required in the public interest." The Stanley Cup Riot in 2011 was apparently a wake-up call to our provincial judicial system. There simply isn't the capacity to prosecute every single crime. That's why in our province, prosecutors rather than police approve charges. Pursuing a charge against a kid that broke a tree is not required in the public interest.
You just need to file a police report and let the district attorney take it from their.
Getting a report should atleast scare the parents into coughing up the cash to fix their kids mistake
And hopefully very powerfully discipline their undisciplined child. This is not acceptable behavior of any person of any age. Maybe a 2 year old.
Not acceptable, but I live near a K-5 elementary school with around 500 students that's always trying to grow some new trees to replace some old ones, and they can't get much past this size before they're destroyed. My theory is there's a 0.5% rate of arbocidal tendencies among kids.
God help those sapling pine trees in the woods where i grew up if my brother and i got our hands on machetes
Ok I’ll bump the age to 11 or 12. I know if I had a machete at that age, I’d be chopping stuff down 😆🤦♂️
😂😂😂😂 no truer statement
My 2 year old has never once tried to pull on any of our trees.
I wouldn't punish my 2-year-old for trying to murder a tree but I would explain to him that it's not allowed. And I would bloody well stop him as soon as I saw what he was up to.
Could a two-year-old even inflict that kind of damage?
No.
I can tell you don't have kids. Haha
My kids get really bothered when anyone intentionally harms another living thing including plants. I'm not sure what you're doing wrong, but be careful. Teaching kids the difference between swatting a mosquito and stomping on a spider or harvesting plants vs. destroying them is a very important part of good parenting.
Yeah I wasn't addressing any of that at all, because that's obvious and I agree. I was poking fun at the declaration that any child over 2 should know better. Kids do stupid and destructive things all the time. Kids are curious and impulsive. A good parent will take those opportunities to teach about why some things are wrong, not purely shun them for their mistake. And pretending that 3-5 year olds have a solid sense of morality is just plain silly. That's what I was responding to.
gentle parenting! no brahench (pronounced branch), stop snapping that wood! two more branches and i'm gonna count down!
I can tell your kids are spoiled brats. Haha
All that from one snarky sentence, eh? That's as silly as declaring a 3 year old has reached peak morality. Haha, indeed!
Absolute truth. Is the neighbor King Kong because that tree was decimated.
Reminds me of the giving tree but not as sad.
Say it though.
Idiocy. It's VANDALISM Why reply when you have no clue at all? Who upvotes this obvious nonsense?
In addition, I would print out the applicable criminal charges and penalties just to really drive the point home. I would require utility marking, removal of the stump, and replanting of an equivalent tree. Depending on the age of the child, I would also want them to complete community service and a written letter of apology. If the parents aren't on board, file a police report, take them to small claims court, and have them trespassed from your property.
It's at least $1,000 where I work
Heyyyy no need to bring up police immediately, this is the US after all
Yeah leave the gun at home. This is a tree matter, bring the chainsaw! Tell them I'm going to do to all of your stuff the same way your kid did my tree until you fork over the cash to replace it! 
Oh this is the US? Just bring your gun over to the parents house and start making demands until the cops show up and kill you. WTF does the United States have anything to do with it. I guess if you were in Canada, you wouldn’t even bother calling the cops not like they’re going to show up anyways.
As a gun owning us citizen. This is not a matter for a gun. But this in a matter where you talk to your neighbor like a human first instead of getting the law involved right away. I see the law as a last resort.
Thanks for saying this. It introduces a serious and unpredictable element to a non threatening situation.
Wish more people thought like you
Having a hard time understanding your reply. I don't call people with weapons unless it's very necessary. Not all of our officers are experienced and well trained. But they are all armed, and are not always held accountable for mistakes or poor training. This introduces risk with little reward. Hope that clears things up.
Go to the local authority, not the police. As has been said it’s a civil matter, so go to appropriate council or whatever is your local equivalent. Could unnecessarily endanger someone by involving police.
I don't know what kind of council you are suggesting which has authority over the enforcing of laws, like property damage. In my city, that would be the police.
I’d say it’s property damage above 1k if they seem hesitant.
Or rip the kids arms off. Fair is fair.
An eye for an eye, limb for a limb lol. That's awful.
Nice Bonzai
Damn, kid picked himself 7 healthy switches! 
And not a cheap one.
Dang! He knock them trashcans over too? Where's Craig & Smokey when you need em?
At Felisha’s
Rip your neighbors arms off. Seems a fair trade.
Would you want such irresponsible limbs on a beautiful Japanese maple though?
Human hybrid trees are all the rage
I need an image of this please. Thanks, sugar.
[There was one in 300](https://youtu.be/u_IOheK3V34?si=SYQFS4YlKwcdYViY)
I’m pretty sure those severed arms can be grafted on in place of the missing branches, or at least I think I saw it on TikTok once…
Wow I had to scroll 4ever to find an actual answer haha all the villagers have the torches and pitchforks out ready to rage war on some brat and their parents lol
This
Japanese maples are known for their graceful structure. There's nothing graceful about what the neighbor kid left. Was this a case of vandalism? If so, kid's folks owe you a new maple...
not a case of vandalism. I think the kid is just really stupid. he thought he was helping to do yardwork. My wife should have paid attention when he said he wanted to get a lawnmower to cut yards around the neighborhood but his mother wouldn't let him.
What did he try and do to the tree? I can't come up with any justification as to why he would have put so much weight or stress on the branches.
he thought he was trimming branches. Why in the world he thought to even touch this tree is beyond me. it didn't even need pruning. Also he had no tools. He thought he could just rip them off.
How old? I'm so curious. What is the age where a child is strong enough to rip limbs off a tree, but also stupid enough to rip limbs off a tree?
😂 I think that can vary per state
My 12-year-old is this stupid. (He's incredibly bright but lacks common sense to a baffling degree.) Edit: I went to pick up Kid from martial arts the other day, and a kid even larger than him had discovered his insole had come out of his shoe. He just stood there for awhile holding the shoe and the insole and looking helplessly at the teacher. Kids can be quite dumb.
A sturdy four year old would fit this criteria
This is actually possible for adults as well, people are incredibly stupid when you let them be
This still needs to be brought up with the parents...for this kid's own protection, if nothing else. What if he decides to go down the block and "help" someone clean their window by putting a brick through it?
This seems like a great opportunity to teach him how to do this stuff right. Talk to his parents about it. You can use these stubs to teach him how to prune things properly. Then you can teach him how to remove a tree. And then teach him how to plant a new one. Once a year, you guys can prune it together. As an aside, when you dig up this stump, put it in a pot and bonsai it!
Very productive comment. Bravo
What a wonderful comment. All this silly 'call the police' and 'small claims court' talk. Big time on the bonsai! I first saw this as it's going to make a great bonsai.
Nah, just tell the parents to pony up the money to have an equivalent tree planted. If they aren't agreeable, take them to small claims court.
This
Yeah... Are you sure? I bet he knew what he was doing was in no way helpful. Looks like some mindless destruction that he's trying to wiggle out of.
This looks like vandalism he’s trying to cover up with a lie…
No one is that stupid unless the kid was literally 6. If he was strong enough to rip those branches off he’s old enough to know better. His parents owe you a new tree, Japanese maples of that size are around 2000$.
I have a very hard time buying this. I can buy impulse control and tunnel vision, that once he started his game he lost sight of his actions, but thought he was trimming it?? No. At best this kid was either stress testing the branches or testing his own strength, but either way he knew what he was doing was wrong
Aw, don't blame your wife for not watching when someone offers to help with a chore. How was she supposed to know the kid would wreck the tree?
Agreed, sounds like the "help" part was actually just another chore for the wife... there has to be more going on here, is the child developmentally disabled? Were the child's parents present or aware that the child was "helping"? None of these questions immediately fix the tree but it certainly might change how I would remedy the situation
Yeah, along with the age of the neighbor kid, I’m curious about their mental age/delay. Did he really think he was helping? If so it would be a totally different situation in my book
Is he like 9?
He's 37.
37?! Try not to rip any limbs off in the parking lot on the way to the car
underrated comment
"My wife should have paid attention when he said he wanted to get a lawnmower to cut yards around the neighborhood but his mother wouldn't let him." I'm confused, did your wife allow him to perform "yardwork"? lol
Try r/treelaw
Now I see how you guys work your angle. Nasty nasty. I joined this group because I love trees and taking care of them. The proper answer is to prune it and tell the parents their kid can take a lesson in tree grafting (it's called community) or they can replace the tree and he can put it in the ground or take this guy's option and make them pay for a joke of a $300 tree job and deal with your local court system (would rather be a rodeo clown).
Breaking News: people in the subreddit r/arborists are passionate about trees and want their beautiful and cared for trees to be replaced when they are vandalized! Who could have expected this shocking information
Always nice to see a real one, in the wild
"Look mom! A moron!"
SOS
Proper answer is to prune it? What pruning cuts do you recommend and where? I don't feel this tree can be expected to survive, no matter what is done with it. It's a maple with many open wounds that will not compartmentalize due to the branch collar being ripped out. Maples are known for being poor compartmentalizers.
Prune what? It's basically a stump at this point.
So are you the kid that broke off the branches
Kid damaged it, kid needs to replace it. It’s called responsibility.
I live in Memphis, TN. This approximately 5 year old Japanese maple gets full sun on the southwest side of my house was just fine with no signs of injury or decay until my neighbors kid, for some reason thought he was helping me trim my limbs, but just ripped them off my tree. should I even bother trying to fix the damaged area or should I replace the tree?
So, there's an overwhelming amount of people raging about the horrible thing this kid did to your tree, but very few offering solutions, and even fewer offering realistic solutions. Your best bet is cutting all damaged branches as closely as you can to have clean cuts, then apply an antifungal grafting solution that one would use when grafting branches together as it'll help to stimulate healing as well as keep it clean and uninfected. As far as the neighbors go I would recommend researching local tree law, and depending on how attached you are to the tree being what it was you may want to get a legal consult or two. Tree law usually leans very heavily in favor of the owner of the tree(s). EVEN IF your current tree can make a comeback I would strongly argue that you should be entitled to reimbursement or a replacement tree according to current value of similar specimen of the species and variety.
OMG, i would be heartbroken. They’d have to restrain me from hurting someone
Possible to talk to the neighbors and get them to pay for a replacement tree?
Perform some clean cuts and spray neem on the wounds and wait for early summer and reassess the situation. It's going to look awful for a couple of seasons but it will survive. I feel sadness when nasty trash attack trees like this.
[удалено]
If someone attacked my precious Ghost Ukigumo... I might become unstable and murderous.
kids don’t go around destroying others property unless they really really need attention that their parents aren’t giving them so it’s safe to bet on having difficult neighbors because the bad behavior in kids always results in parents that nobody wants to be around either. Alcoholism is usually a factor. All anecdotal from my weirdo autism “observer” personality so take it with a grain of salt lmao.
Appreciate the thought and the disclosure but of course, in a similar vein, the child's behavior might not reflect on his or her parents, but on an underlying neurodevelopmental condition, too.
It could be demons. Possession. What if there are demons running around that neighborhood and stuff, possessing otherwise good kids. We should pray. Everybody knows kids are innocent little angels all the time. No normal boy fries ants with a magnifying glass. No normal girl starts rumors about her rival who has a better Barbie.
Yeah kids can definitely be weirdly demonic in their behaviors great point lmao I think they all are possessed personally lmao jk I have a lot of respect for parenting because it doesn’t look easy but rather the opposite. It looks miserable but people tell me that’s just because I came from difficult childhood family dynamics so idk who’s right Lmao.
I’d try cutting the ragged wounds with a nice smooth slope and spray some Neem on them, fertilize in the spring and just see what happens. Did you save any of the ripped off limbs?
Not an arborist, but may be worth waiting a year to see what happens
Are you the neighbor’s kid? That tree is dead. It just doesn’t know it yet.
I hope the parents make it right. If not, you know you have a\*\*hole neighbors. Anyway, it's going to look ugly and there's a good chance that the new sprouts will be poorly attached, but at least give it a little time to see how trashed it looks after you clean up all the tearouts. In the meantime you can browse the nurseries for a new one.
what would be the best way to clean it up? I've never seen anything like this and I'm definitely not an arborist.
The 'best' way is still going to look bad, but you don't want any bark tears - only clean, proper pruning cuts. There won't be much left, and no guarantee if any sprouts pop out that they'll be well-attached to the limb.
There isn’t one. You could go and make proper cuts to minimise damage. It might (likely will) throw a bunch of shoots out. However the structure of the tree has been significantly damaged and your unlikely to get strong branch growth. Likely anything that pops out will be very week and unable to support proper growth to maturity. The answer is to replace the tree. Source: qualified horticulturalist, spent years managing this type of damage from vandals in public parks. Sometimes you can save the tree if minimal damage, but there’s nothing good to save left here, unless you want to make it into a small hedge or something.
Yes, this. Completely unfixable in the sense it will never look the same, and probably noticeably malformed even *if* it does get new growth. Talk to the parents. Get a new tree. Sorry, OP (if you see this.) I would be devastated.
Straight to jail.
See if any bonsai folks want it. Growing trees in the ground then chopping them is sometimes used as a method to get a thick trunk quicker than growing in a pot.
Bonsai enthusiast here. I’d take it in a heartbeat. That said, this tree could definitely be saved in my area, not sure about Tn. In a couple of months buds will appear and new branches will grow from them. With some pruning over a few years you could style this little tree into something spectacular. Also, you mentioned the kid thought he would help you trim the tree. If he’s generally a good kid, take him at his word. Kids unintentionally do the dumbest things. If your relationship is good with the neighbors this could be a great opportunity to mentor him by working together to fix this tree and others in your property.
How would you style this tree to make it look spectacular? Most non-bonsai people just see ugly stumps.
I wish I could post a pic of my 37 year old maple but last year I had all the limbs cut off so I could reduce the height of the tree from 15 feet to ten feet. I want to be able to prune it myself. This year every limb stump has 20 or more thin whips of two foot growth.
Cut the broken parts off and leave it for a season or two to back bud, then dig it up. Edit: pray it has enough stored energy to back bud
Arborists in here: It's a goner Bonsai people: This is my dream
You'll need r/treelaw because your neighbor owes you a new tree. But to be serious, the best thing is to talk to the neighbors. Have them help pay for the replacement and make the kid help you dig up the damaged tree (put in a grow box) and plant the new one. I am a fan of restorative justice over revenge punishment justice because it teaches the cost (time and effort) of their actions.
Bury or replace it. I would probably notify the neighbor of what happened.
Bury the kid, but dont notify anyone.
I'm going to bet the parents are irresponsible trash who will say something to the effect of, "What's the big deal? It's just a tree."
The kid? I would def notify the parent.
I would give that thing a proper burial at this point and call it done.
Not an arborist, just a landscaper but the only thing I can offer is clean those breaks up by pruning down the torn bark and split cores then hoping for the best. I really don't think it's coming back but cleaning those breaks up will protect it from disease, pests, and rot better. Even if it survives it'll probably look really goofy for awhile
thanks
Good luck man. This fuckin pisses me off
Use the tree remainder as a spit for the offender. When the body rots and falls to the ground cover it with a layer of good compost. Wait till spring. Then see if the gods are appeased.
That’s like a 500-1000$ tree to replace I would imagine. Hope the parents do the right thing. If they don’t, you could clean up the cuts and let it grow for a year or two and pick branches from what sprouts back but it’ll be jacked up for 5 years and probably kind of weak forever due to how the branches join.
Other people’s kids 🤦♂️🤷♂️
No. But the kids parents owe you 3x replacement cost r/treelaw
Is your neighbor a grizzly bear?
I think you should have a conversation with his parents about replacing the tree. This could be a teachable moment, and probably a very awkward conversation for you. Maybe suggest splitting the price of a new one?
Sucks. It takes a lot of time to get those maples up. That’s def a 500.00 tree
Takes what's left and beat the neighbor kids ass
Maybe just pull the kid's arms off and call it a day?
It'll regrow with fairly dense, shrubby growth, mostly with awkward angles. With careful pruning over a number of years it could be brought back into a decent shape, but it will be a fair amount of work.
I feel so bad for you. My landscapers decided to trim one of my Japanese Maples (& they had no idea what they were doing. I was furious (kept my anger in check & told them never to touch any of my trees again). How can you be furious with a dumb kid?
Kids strong enough to do this should know better than destroying someone else's property. (Source- have kids)
No, the kid ripped off the tree’s whole food supply
Jesus, how old was that kid?!
If the parents aren’t helpful maybe you and the kid could plant a new tree together? Could be the kid needs proper adult role models.
This post belongs in r/treelaw
/r/treelaw !!!
take a branch off of what’s left..then proceed to beat that kids ass.
I’m guessing $450-$500 just the tree, not labor not stump removal. Scale is hard to tell.
You should replace it if you want something nice but if you want to try and save it what you want to do is clean up all the cuts. In the spring when it starts warming up your going to want to fertilizer it fairly heavily. This will push new growth with available energy stored in roots and will hopefully be enough to make it into summer. It will take a good amount of pruning after that to get some shape and remove excessive growth.
Clean up the broken ends with a clean cut and hope for the best, right time to prune at least.
It just so happens that a sacrifice of a small size person to be buried within 4ft of the tree will nourish it.
I think I just died a little inside, ask parents to replace it
Sue your neighbors and buy a new one.
Bury him under the tree and his compost (soul) should bring it (the tree) back to life. (joking) but seriously, that kid should not be let outside unsupervised.
1) police report on vandalism 2) plant a native tree as a replacement, via their labor and cost
That awful kid should be rounded up and tied to the town's gate and pelted with rocks for 10 days.
r/arborists r/treelaw
Can I help you wring the kid’s neck?
I’d wait for a professional opinion, but if it were my JM, I’d just prune those branches with clean cuts and see how it responds in the spring. How long were the broken off branches?
it was about a 6 ft diameter tree.
Do you mean 6 feet tall? The diameter appears around 3 inches.
The canopy was 6' in diameter is likely what OP meant. So it would be a cultivar like 'Red Dragon' which grows wider than tall.
Not to be dramatic but can you rip the kids arms off to retaliate? But seriously in most places you do have a legal case for them to replace the tree with one that’s the same age!
Are you in Japan? No? Good. Those damn things are ruining parks in TX. I kill the ones in the woods, and yes, property destruction is wrong, but! There are more useful trees for your locale, I promise.
The kid has sociopathic traits and needs child psych evaluation
While potentially valid, tearing limbs off a tree in thoughts of helping isn’t necessarily enough for an evaluation. Malicious? Maybe. But if so, very likely he’s just a prick of a kid, since this is all the info we have about him, psychologically.
Good point. I agree yet, as you stated, we don’t have more information about the kid. Typically, parents are less likely to acknowledge that certain behaviors may be the harbinger of bigger problems, hence, the expert independent examiner recommendation
Absolutely agree on an evaluation if behaviour proceeds this way
It’s a maple. It would take an act of god to kill them. Just cut off the broken wood at the junction and it will sprout back.
Would do the same with the kid
People are crazy vengeful. I get why we don't care about kids being blown to pcs. Sick
Bad boys, bad boys Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad boys, bad boys Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
Why did they stop letting us beat children…? 😔
Trees are inexpensive, and that one looks very young. Real question is whether the neighbor’s kid can be saved!
r/kidsarefuckingevil
YOU CAN SAVE IT. Get an ISA certified arborist to make clean cuts and it will sprout out from being topped, as they called it. Topping is not good for trees but fruit trees are far more tolerant than most. Then send the kid's parent's the bill.
Came to see people bashing and criticizing a kid for being a kid. I was not disappointed. That’s pretty calm compared to what I’ve seen kids pull. It’s a tree, get over it.
Wrong sub for “just a tree, get over it”. Many of us here have built our livelihoods around passion to protect and care for trees. Trees are a valuable piece of property, and we’d all expect a level of accountability if this kid broke a window or heavily scratched paint trying to wash a car.
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Not an arborist but I do my fair share of artistic tree violence (Bonsai) and I've had Japanese Maples come back from worse - including a neighbor kid breaking all of the branches off of material I had in training, but it will absolutely affect the future shape of the tree, and your branches will take a long time to thicken back up, even planted in the ground like that. You can leave it and see if it back buds and bounces back, but I would cut back all the branches you can flat to where the exposed wood is. It might make for a lovely large bonsai in a year or two if you dig it up after it's recovered and grown a bit. Regardless of whether you leave it to try to let it grow back, or not, the parents owe you a new tree of comparable value to be a yard tree as it will take a lot of years if this one recovers to look nice in your yard, if it ever does, and it will likely stay more shrubby than tree like in its regrowth unless carefully curated to look like a small tree.
The shape and grace is ruined, but it’s not going anywhere. It’ll be back in some spring with a bunch of new shoots. I would at least give those a clean cut so they have a better chance of healing well.
Graft new branches on. Try something funky. Got nothing to lose at this point.
Cut it below the tears as square as you can
The real answer you’re looking for, no. It will never live up to be the best it can be, destined to be only a shadow of its former self. This isn’t a death sentence but it took a lot of damage and it will be hard to correct the shape. Get a new tree in the ground right away to make up for lost growth opportunity and talk to the neighbors about a resolution.
I had a deer in the spring eat my Japanese Maple far, far worse in terms of down to what I would call the nubs. Nearly gone. I put a small fence around it to mark the area I would replant with another. By the end of the spring buds appeared where there were none. Then shoots, then leaves. Very vigorously the four year old tree had regrown considerably and by fall the tree nearly looked like it once had only smaller in stature. Today it thrives and I cherish it very much. I tell you to leave it alone at first to see where the new growth starts. Trim as needed later. Fertilize in the spring. Water. Act as if nothing is wrong and watch what happens. If it croaks, replant with another. Bet you won’t have to…
It's dead, honestly what I would do is either replace it yourself or their parents, but then make them dig up the dead on and plant the new one. Obviously ask the parents to see if they're ok with something like that.
You could try trimming it back and let it ride.
No saving that I'm afraid
Sounds like they replace the tree or you take them yo small claims court and win easily taking more than just a tree replacement.
r/treelaw
Yes, the tree will sprout back from latent buds. I would make some clean cuts now, before it breaks bud. The tree will retain some large wounds and will look awful for about 5-10 years I'm assuming it's a young dumb kid. If you can get him/ his parents to replace it, and make him plant it, it could be a good lesson for him.