Spruce fell over

[Your Letters 2]

I have a blue spruce, approx. 15'-18' tall which was blown partially over last fall after a heavy wind storm.  It wasn't fully lifted out of the ground.

 

We staked it up to reposition it and reapplied some additional soil to help secure it.  I noticed that it needs to be repositioned in another direction (like repositioned to north, now needing to go west).

 

My questions:

What additional steps should be taken to help the tree reground itself?

What should I be using to help reposition it? (I was thinking a ratcheting strap would work.)  In the fall we used what was handy, which was a length of plastic roping and a T-stake. Should I replace that something softer like a cotton rope?  Should a collar of some sort be used by the tree trunk

.

The tree seems to be surviving, but we'll know more as spring progresses.

S.B.

[Janet Macunovich 32]

Keep the extra soil away from the trunk. Keep the soil moist not wet there this year.

 

Prop the tree, don't stake it. Don't remove the prop until root growth ends for the year - about Christmas 2020.

 

A prop is a crutch. Examples below. Position it to CATCH the tree if it leans. For a spruce, there's the option of proppng the trunk or branches.

 

Staking is not good because it prevents the tree from moving, which is essential to developing strength in the trunk. Plus the cords or ropes involved cut off the growth of- and starch movement in the cambium where  they press. This is the case with even the best harness, one you might make using a very wide material like a seat belt strap. The wider material puts fewer pounds per square inch pressure than a narrow cord but it still presses.

 

(Running a wire through a bit of hose does not reduce the pressure on the cambium, by the way.)

 

Here's a prop I made for a palo verde tree after I cut out a large girdlng root. Tree was tipping over in part because of the girdling root that had prevented its roots from going wide. We left it a year. At that point I could lean on the tree with my full weight and not budge it.

 

Here, propping old end-heavy quince limbs with yew branches we pruned out of overgrown yew bushes. Very rot resistant wood. It's been in place almost 5 years and still solid.

 

Massive props used to stabilize a venerable mulberry tree.