I was wondering the practical methods used to keep trees attached to their supporting structures. Perhaps adjustable to prevent girdling?
Also any ways to protect graft unions.
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Supports weaken trees. I prefer a triple or quadruple cross-tie of clothes-line cord attached to serious metal posts about 2-3 feet from the trunk at one end and a non-girdling loop of cord around the trunk. In this way, the tree must deal with the wind, but the wind can’t bend the young trees sideways. In some situations multiple heights are necessary.
The exception is the training of 1-2 year old saplings into a straight shoot with a section of bamboo. Figs come to mind.
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One word: Chainlock:
Whack it off between links into approximately 10" hanks. Twist an end 90° out of vertical and insert it back through a lower link. Let it spring to lock. How far back and how far through determines the size of the loop. Make a loop in one end around the support and another in the other end around the branch. It’s not obvious that the links have slightly different lengths, so you get to choose. By swapping ends and choosing links, you can make a loop exactly the size it takes to be fairly snug around a support. Then, you can make another loop in the opposite end amply large to avoid girdling the branch, and you can enlarge it from year to year.
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My preferred method uses a Plain plastic bag that I tie around the tree about 2/3 the height of the tree. Then I drive three stakes in the ground at 120 degree angles where I attach tie downs running up to the plastic circle. The plastic circle contains the limits of tree movement no matter which way the wind blows. Very simple! No concerns about girdling.
Dennis
Kent wa
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Similar to Dennis, but if I’m in cheap mode, I use a piece of old waterhose with a heavy wire run through. With three stakes, the tree is not going anywhere but where I want it to grow. For young pecan trees, I use a piece of rebar driven in the ground beside the tree and 3 or 4 cloth ties to hold it straight. I usually remove them after one year because pecan naturally tends to grow straight.
Interesting trivia: I planted a pecan seedling in 2001 that had a full S curve in the trunk going up, then down, then up again. I planted it anyway expecting to graft below the loop. Five years later the trunk had straightened on its own. I grafted Lakota on it in 2012 and made a very large healthy and productive tree today. For a time, I thought the seedling might even be good enough to propagate, but over the years found it too susceptible to powdery mildew and scab.
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If you are growing a bunch of dwarf Apple trees on a trellis I suggest the tree clips below. We clip the trees to the lower wires when the trees are small and remove the bottom clip up to the top wires as the trees get bigger. The big advantage is that these clips do not slide along the trellis wire and give the trees plenty of space to grow with a loose connection, but they need to be removed as the trunk size increases in 3 or 4 years… They were about 10 cents each, the last time I bought them but most suppliers prefer to sell in larger quantities. A publication from Penn State discusses their use on dwarf trees attached to a trellis wire. We use a Max Tapener to tie the blackberries to the trellis wires but they slide along the trellis wire on Apples and don’t provide the support we need.
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I started using the clips a couple of years ago on my apple and young hazel trees. My clips are home made and I make sure there is enough space to grow. Once installed they are mostly trouble free.
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I guess I just live in a place with almost no wind to speak of (not counting tropical storms and hurricanes).
I’ve never had a tree need staking beyond, as mentioned, perhaps training a sapling to have a straight lower trunk.
My concern with long term support was always allowing the tree to move to a point then keeping it from going past that point in all directions.
The wood of the tree gains caliper and strength partially from moving in the wind. It’s possible to create a weaker tree in the short term by over supporting it and it becomes sort of leggy like vegetable seedlings that haven’t been exposed to air movement.
I think it’s a valid analogy, though perhaps it’s not that big of a deal.
I aways think of the same species of tree growing on a coast and growing well inland. The coastal tree is usually much stouter and shorter at the same age than the tree more protected from everyday winds.
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I’ve seen the same thing. A neighbor had a young burr oak that was bent over by a heavy snow load, grew straight up to form an “S” and then eventually stood itself back straight. Really didn’t expect that.
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When I first planted my Anna it wanted to lean. I rigged it to a tomato stake with a large paper clip for now. We get the odd tropical storms and rough spring weather. Not to mention the daily 2pm thunderstorms most of summer.
It has thickened up and is sturdy now. Ready for something better. I’m going to add another Anna, another Dorset Golden. And a pair of Tropic Sweets and a pair of Tropic Beauty’s. That will complete my Summer Apple group.
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