apple question

[Tony Wheeler]

a neighbor brought me a small apple tree hanging from the back of his wrecker truck just pulled it out of the ground then cut off all of the smaller limbs under 1 1/2 he said the tree has been dead since the spring and it is about 4 inch dia at the largerest I would like to save most of it for ornament and such for next year this time I have read post about apple spilting badly so how would you treat it cut into blanks soak in alcohol and seal ends or cut to lenghts and drill out pith or what

[Scott Lux]

If you're not going to use it for a while, I'd leave it as long as you can and seal all the cuts. Seal the ends and anywhere a branch came off. I am lucky enough to have a tall garage. I leave them 8-10 feet long, seal all cuts, and store them standing in a corner. There may still be some checking, but it will minimize it.

That's the size of the apple branches that I use. Here in Ohio it'll take more than one year to dry out. But then it's so humid here the state flower is mildew. If mine ever dries to the point it doesn't warp, I'll let you know.

Lux