#1 reason for staking a tree? The nurseries are growing them wrong. Too tall too young. As a landscaper I then had to hold them vertical by staking them (hot all species). I always used 2 stakes, 2 x 1 foot of cheap vinyl hose, and 12 gauge wire. Customers were told to remove the stake after a year or so. The hose would make a loop much larger than the tree trunk and would leave room for movement which encourages tensioning wood to be formed. The wire from the stake to the tree (ran inside of the garden hose section) would also add to the movement.
The nurseries also grow plant in almost pure mulch. As it ages it decays away, unlike dirt. All shrubs and trees from typical nurseries suffer from this. It causes them to have unstable bases for many years.
I usually stake trees to get them started and protect them from being knocked down by the wind or my rowdy dogs. I generally use two stakes with a rubber/wire tie that allows some movement and will never become embedded. The stakes come out once I feel the tree can resist the wind and dogs!
Blair your next video needs to examine the planting depth of trees and planting methodologies. If the tree is grown in a pot and the roots are circling you have a much bigger problem than whether the tree will stand up or not. If the circling roots are not corrected tree's lifespan will be greatly reduced. Additionally I did not see root flares in the video and planting depth always needs to be examined and the root flare needs to be at the surface.
young tree care is SO over looked . I have planted thousands of trees . the question to stake or not depends on many factors . in my opinion all young tree should have a annual check up just like us who see a doctor to make sure were healthy . for those folks who read the comment , a annual check will give you all the information for your tree . great information Blair Joe
@@arboristBlairGlenn we could drive around the city of Palo Alto. I started planting trees there in 1997. I still know where some of they are many of them up until the year 2021. I still planted hundred trees while working for the City Of Palo Alto. I personally planted 400 trees a year. Joe
Every tree that I plant, no matter the circumstances, immediately becomes "my tree". I plant many trees for the city and like to stop by to see how they are doing. The first time that I need to climb them for pruning is so rewarding.
Very good video - Thanks. Here are a few comments based on my experiance of planting 40+ 50 gallon or larger tree on a rural property. 1. If the tree was grown in a container I always take a knife and cut the root ball every 2 to 3 inches to minimize the circiling roots. I have also followed up with a root collar excavation (twice over 14 years) and have found girdling roots I had to deal with. 2. I do stake my trees with 3 tee posts and I use a 1 inch wide ribbon and leave plenty of slack in the loops around the tree. Using a stronger chord with a piece of cur rubber hose for the loop is also a great way to do it. If I need to tweak the straighness I can do it by adjusting which line to tighten. 3. I personally investing in hiring a local arborost to spend a couple hours each fall to walk the trees and advise on any structural pruning needs and anything else he observes. 4. For me I am fortunate to live in a rural area and I have room, I would personnally never put a tree within 50 feet of my house. 5. I do my own lawn work and Blair's comment on the weed eater damage is right on. If you have a landscaper that does that, fire the ignorant dude,
Some folks say to plant a tree in a circular pot in a square hole - that can, apparently, encourage the roots not to go round and round in a circle. Others say to tease out the roots from a root-ball to encourage them to engage more widely with the surrounding soil. Even more extreme is to cut through some of the circling roots, again, allegedly this encourages the roots to go outward rather than round and round. I'd like to see some experimental work looking at trees a few years after planting with different regimes.
The experimentation has been done and that does not work. Research was presented last year at the landscape below ground symposium at the Morton Arboretum and simply slicing roots vertically was ineffective.. The most effective methodologies was root ball shaving where the outer one half inch of roots was actually shaved or cut off the outside edge of theroot ball Removing the roots and allowing the roots to grow out laterally as they would in nature.
I see public street trees all the time with up to four tight straps, preventing movement that encourages strength. Invariably these are left as the tree matures and start to damage or even ringbark the tree. I just don't get why install expensive stakes that aren't even needed and don't even come back to check tree and remove ties.
The stake system in this video is interesting. Never seen like this. I saw umbrella frames for plane trees (used to shape them umbrella-style) seriously embedded in the wood, to the point when it can't be extracted. Including a vertical pole (steel pipe), radial bars (steel pipes), and countless zip ties. All of that partially hidden inside the tree. It was so painful to look at.
Blair, Wish I had known you were coming to Ron's home as I would have loved to talk with you about this problem. I put those stakes in about a year + ago and adjusting them was on my list of things to do. The problem was that these were 15 gallon trees someone else had planted and they were leaning at a severe angle away from the stakes. I was not sure how much I could pull them up. There were extremely root bound as you pointed out and moving them to a true vertical (or beyond) position caused the root ball to actually start coming out of the soil. Would it have been better to pull them further at the time of staking or do it in a 2-stage approach as you did? Also, thank you for pointing out the cut marks on the trunk. Going to have a sit-down with the maintenance person on that. And that tear on the trunk? That is what happens when you put a ladder on soft soil and one of the legs collapses. Took a nasty fall onto the walkway that laid me up for a week. That one really hurt)-: Now, if you could just help with training that poorly placed magnolia in the front yard, I and the client would be happy campers.
@@arboristBlairGlenn Yes, it does help, but I'm still confused about pulling a tree to the point that the root ball starts to move or doing it in stages as you did.
@@RolfJacobs-ct7mg root ball did not move (much) and if you don’t make the adjustments before you lose flexibility, it will quickly reach a point where it won’t move at all. In a year, take off the ties and see how it flexes back.
I try not to stake trees unless absolutely necessary. Certain species of trees almost always require stakes, ie Crape myrtles. I always tell customers to move the straps a few times a year and remove the stakes after 1-2 years.
I hate it when i see damage from weed wippers on the trunks of trees. Ive seen many trees die from that. Its just a shame those beautiful trees decimated.
I have planted a row of acer rubrum 3 years ago. All were about equal. I did stake them and adjusted the stakes about 3 times a season (mostly because the meterials were rubbish). Now some of them are very strong and I have removed the stakes long ago. Some should be fine (removed the stakes this year). Some are still tied (the trunk is too thin), just hope I will be able to "free" them this year. I'm curious how good is using poor stakes. They rot and become shaky, and this possibly serves as natural ease-out and lets the trunk move. Or, it is just a burden to inspect and adjust :)
I learned the hard way to use wooden stakes that do degrade. I used steel fence t-posts once on some trees and didn't get the stakes out in time, and roots prevented my removing them without huge labor and root damage.
#1 reason for staking a tree? The nurseries are growing them wrong. Too tall too young. As a landscaper I then had to hold them vertical by staking them (hot all species). I always used 2 stakes, 2 x 1 foot of cheap vinyl hose, and 12 gauge wire. Customers were told to remove the stake after a year or so. The hose would make a loop much larger than the tree trunk and would leave room for movement which encourages tensioning wood to be formed. The wire from the stake to the tree (ran inside of the garden hose section) would also add to the movement.
The nurseries also grow plant in almost pure mulch. As it ages it decays away, unlike dirt. All shrubs and trees from typical nurseries suffer from this. It causes them to have unstable bases for many years.
Telling the client something and It actually getting done? Most of my clients can’t see the tree without effort.
I usually stake trees to get them started and protect them from being knocked down by the wind or my rowdy dogs. I generally use two stakes with a rubber/wire tie that allows some movement and will never become embedded. The stakes come out once I feel the tree can resist the wind and dogs!
Blair your next video needs to examine the planting depth of trees and planting methodologies. If the tree is grown in a pot and the roots are circling you have a much bigger problem than whether the tree will stand up or not. If the circling roots are not corrected tree's lifespan will be greatly reduced. Additionally I did not see root flares in the video and planting depth always needs to be examined and the root flare needs to be at the surface.
young tree care is SO over looked . I have planted thousands of trees . the question to stake or not depends on many factors . in my opinion all young tree should have a annual check up just like us who see a doctor to make sure were healthy . for those folks who read the comment , a annual check will give you all the information for your tree . great information Blair
Joe
I have planted a lot of trees myself and I enjoy going back years later to see how (my) tree is doing.
@@arboristBlairGlenn we could drive around the city of Palo Alto. I started planting trees there in 1997. I still know where some of they are many of them up until the year 2021. I still planted hundred trees while working for the City Of Palo Alto. I personally planted 400 trees a year.
Joe
Every tree that I plant, no matter the circumstances, immediately becomes "my tree". I plant many trees for the city and like to stop by to see how they are doing. The first time that I need to climb them for pruning is so rewarding.
Thank you for sharing and educating! The trees have suckers too :(
Very good video - Thanks. Here are a few comments based on my experiance of planting 40+ 50 gallon or larger tree on a rural property.
1. If the tree was grown in a container I always take a knife and cut the root ball every 2 to 3 inches to minimize the circiling roots. I have also followed up with a root collar excavation (twice over 14 years) and have found girdling roots I had to deal with.
2. I do stake my trees with 3 tee posts and I use a 1 inch wide ribbon and leave plenty of slack in the loops around the tree. Using a stronger chord with a piece of cur rubber hose for the loop is also a great way to do it. If I need to tweak the straighness I can do it by adjusting which line to tighten.
3. I personally investing in hiring a local arborost to spend a couple hours each fall to walk the trees and advise on any structural pruning needs and anything else he observes.
4. For me I am fortunate to live in a rural area and I have room, I would personnally never put a tree within 50 feet of my house.
5. I do my own lawn work and Blair's comment on the weed eater damage is right on. If you have a landscaper that does that, fire the ignorant dude,
Strux pruning and staking when young is extremely important to a healthy sound tree 🌳 many years into the future.
Explain “Strux” do you mean structure?
@@arboristBlairGlenn yes it's shorthand for structure or structural pruning and in engineering notes. 😎✌️
Some folks say to plant a tree in a circular pot in a square hole - that can, apparently, encourage the roots not to go round and round in a circle. Others say to tease out the roots from a root-ball to encourage them to engage more widely with the surrounding soil. Even more extreme is to cut through some of the circling roots, again, allegedly this encourages the roots to go outward rather than round and round. I'd like to see some experimental work looking at trees a few years after planting with different regimes.
Good comment. Roots in pots need to be planted before they grow around and around.
The experimentation has been done and that does not work. Research was presented last year at the landscape below ground symposium at the Morton Arboretum and simply slicing roots vertically was ineffective.. The most effective methodologies was root ball shaving where the outer one half inch of roots was actually shaved or cut off the outside edge of theroot ball Removing the roots and allowing the roots to grow out laterally as they would in nature.
I see there is a lot at stake here (pun intended)
😊
I have never staked a tree in my 70 years and never had a problem. If you just make sure the roots are free and grow out you wont have a problem.
I see public street trees all the time with up to four tight straps, preventing movement that encourages strength. Invariably these are left as the tree matures and start to damage or even ringbark the tree. I just don't get why install expensive stakes that aren't even needed and don't even come back to check tree and remove ties.
My point exactly
In my town they apparently used a plumb bob to plant live oaks directly under the power lines ,inside 2' diameter holes in the new sidewalk .
The stake system in this video is interesting. Never seen like this. I saw umbrella frames for plane trees (used to shape them umbrella-style) seriously embedded in the wood, to the point when it can't be extracted. Including a vertical pole (steel pipe), radial bars (steel pipes), and countless zip ties. All of that partially hidden inside the tree. It was so painful to look at.
Thanks for commenting Anton
Blair,
Wish I had known you were coming to Ron's home as I would have loved to talk with you about this problem. I put those stakes in about a year + ago and adjusting them was on my list of things to do. The problem was that these were 15 gallon trees someone else had planted and they were leaning at a severe angle away from the stakes. I was not sure how much I could pull them up. There were extremely root bound as you pointed out and moving them to a true vertical (or beyond) position caused the root ball to actually start coming out of the soil. Would it have been better to pull them further at the time of staking or do it in a 2-stage approach as you did? Also, thank you for pointing out the cut marks on the trunk. Going to have a sit-down with the maintenance person on that. And that tear on the trunk? That is what happens when you put a ladder on soft soil and one of the legs collapses. Took a nasty fall onto the walkway that laid me up for a week. That one really hurt)-: Now, if you could just help with training that poorly placed magnolia in the front yard, I and the client would be happy campers.
Hi Rolf, hope this video helps.
@@arboristBlairGlenn Yes, it does help, but I'm still confused about pulling a tree to the point that the root ball starts to move or doing it in stages as you did.
@@RolfJacobs-ct7mg root ball did not move (much) and if you don’t make the adjustments before you lose flexibility, it will quickly reach a point where it won’t move at all. In a year, take off the ties and see how it flexes back.
I try not to stake trees unless absolutely necessary. Certain species of trees almost always require stakes, ie Crape myrtles. I always tell customers to move the straps a few times a year and remove the stakes after 1-2 years.
And when you go back five years later,
The stakes are still there-
One thing’s for sure: Never stake a tree in Vegas.
Because it stays in Vegas? Right? :)
I hate it when i see damage from weed wippers on the trunks of trees. Ive seen many trees die from that. Its just a shame those beautiful trees decimated.
I have planted a row of acer rubrum 3 years ago. All were about equal. I did stake them and adjusted the stakes about 3 times a season (mostly because the meterials were rubbish). Now some of them are very strong and I have removed the stakes long ago. Some should be fine (removed the stakes this year). Some are still tied (the trunk is too thin), just hope I will be able to "free" them this year. I'm curious how good is using poor stakes. They rot and become shaky, and this possibly serves as natural ease-out and lets the trunk move. Or, it is just a burden to inspect and adjust :)
I learned the hard way to use wooden stakes that do degrade. I used steel fence t-posts once on some trees and didn't get the stakes out in time, and roots prevented my removing them without huge labor and root damage.
👍🏻