I have a Butterfly Magnolia tree in my front yard. Last year it started growing a new trunk fromthe ground. This spring, the new trunk is budding, but not the original trunk. Tried bending a small twig on the original trunk and it just snapped.

So do I cut the old original trunk off? Let it go for a season? What would have caused this to happen?
Thanks everyone!

Yep. Get rid of the old dead trunk. You will now probably have a more vigorous tree from the new one. I've seen this happen with several trees of my own.

Wait a few weeks and see if anything happens. Maybe that one small twig was an anomaly. It is common for young sprouts to green up earlier than older parts of woody plants. It is likely that your Butterfly magnolia was grafted, and if the sprout originates from below the graft, you won't have the same tree.

Leftwood said:. It is likely that your Butterfly magnolia was grafted, and if the sprout originates from below the graft, you won't have the same tree.

Good call. I didn't even think about that.

Thank you Rick and Kyle. I didn't even think about it being a grafted tree. That's a bummer if it's not the same tree though.

Yea. But if the Butterfly is dead you could give the understock a chance. It might turn out to be a beautiful tree. I have Japanese maple I bought as Crimson Queen. The CQ part died but the understock is turning out to be beautiful and I love it.

I'm going to let it grow. Hopefully it will be decent. Only time will tell. It should bloom in a week or so