Staking trees

[TheFied]

I have read pluses & minuses for staking trees. I planted a 5-6 foot Bigtooth Maple in July 2007 and never staked it. It is probably 1.5" in diameter. It has done well despite wind. Still growing.

But my neighbor had a live oak tree put in by the builder. It is probably 2.5" in diameter. 10 feet tall. This was almost 2 years ago. The builder put the angle iron type stakes on 2 sides with wire to hold it up.

My neighborhood is still under development but as I run around I see many many houses with trees that are staked from the builder 1+ years back. At what point can people take the stakes out? Like I said, I never used mine on my Bigtooth Maple (and that thing cost $200+ at It's About Thyme Nursery).

So I am puzzled why these people don't take the stakes out.

 

[Blain]

2 years

 

[Jellydonuts]

"So I am puzzled why these people don't take the stakes out."

Probably because they are lazy or ignorant. Provided the wind isn't so excessive that it snaps the young tree (very rare), it is actually a benefit; blowing in the wind causes young trees to release hormones that lead to stonger trunks. If you do stake a tree, it should certainly not be over one year and should be fairly loose. You have done the right thing.

 

[TheFied]

Jelly, that is what I thought. One of my neighbors is a good friend of mine now and I told him 6 months ago "you can get rid of those stakes" and he did. My other neighbor I know well but not that well so I don't want to just bring it up but it just makes me scratch my head why he hasn't figured out that he is tree is big enough and doens't need the 'training wheels' anymore. And honestly he isn't alone in the neighborhood.

 

[brntorng]

Agreed that loosely staked for a year is fine. Probably no harm letting it go for 2 years. The bigger the tree, the more important it is to stake it.

 

[grinder]

I planted a 6-foot tall, <1-inch dia. bur oak sapling in spring 2007. I removed all supports six months after planting and the it's had no issues with wind since.

 

[LazyEngineer]

I can't tell you how many scarred up trees I saw in my old neighborhood where people didn't remove the wire and stakes from the trees and the trunk grew around the wire. I mean, MANY different houses had this problem.

 

[William Cannon]

The natural gardener told me that you should stake them for 2 year. Somehow the wind takes energy from the tree away; energy that would otherwise be used for growth.

 

[austintex]

Baby tree is all growns up...

 

[OrangeHair]

I removed my stakes around a year in our new house. All my retarded neighbors couldn't wait to remove theirs after like 1 month. Coincidently most of their trees fell over during Ike. Mine had no problem afte 1.5 years in the ground (only 1 year staked).

 

[TheFied]

Orangehair, I assume you are in Houston.