Friday, July 09, 2010

Staking a Newly Planted Tree

Two Stakes Help Tree Acclimate Better than One Stake

(Example of proper tree staking)

I had three trees installed in a garden renovation a few years ago. Two of them have done well and have become nicely established in the garden. One, however, has failed to thrive. When trying to remove the stake which the landscapers left to help it get established, I discovered it is top heavy and lists to one side.

After doing a little research, I discovered that current convention is to use two stakes with webbing configured as a figure 8 to secure the tree. The idea is to get the wind to rustle through the canopy, the tree to sway in the wind with tree growing stong.

I think this might be part of my tree's problem. I also think the landscapers might not have released the roots when they planted it. We are going to try to excavate a little to see if we can determine if the roots are just circling around instead of spreading out.

1 comment:

Rohrerbot said...

That's great. The 2 stake approach is the best. The tree definitely has to move around in order for it to put out roots that "balance" the tree...or from what I've read and seen. A lot of times here in Tucson, they put a tree in...stake it so tight and the tree isn't able to move...then during monsoon, the wind picks it up and tosses it to the ground because it didn't have a well established root system (or the other reason is that the tree was pruned incorrectly). When a tree sways, it sends signals down to the ground...and they recommend 2 things now...the 2 stake or nothing. I've used both and they work great. The city of Tucson and businesses are now using the 2 stake method.

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