pulling a tree straight

A tree with 4" AND 3" trunks and you expect to straighten it out with
a stake and a come-along or a truck? Did you just move to the
country from the big city?

At that size, it's either live with it, cut it down, or maybe trim it
a bit. With dual trunks and encroaching on a street light, it doesn't
sound particularly attractive to have in front of the house to begin
with. If it was some rare specimen, with a lot of digging and root
pruning, you MIGHT succeed in what you want to do, but even then there
is risk the tree won't survive.

Posted by Norminn on May 4, 2008, 9:44 am

Nate Nagel wrote:

> Hi all,

> I've got a redbud tree (at least that's what I've been told it is) in

> my front yard. Unfortunately it is growing at an angle, hanging over

> the street and actually around a streetlight. It is a very pretty

> tree but looks like hell. I think it did this because it was

> competing with an oversized elderberry bush that was left untrimmed by

> the previous owners. The redbud has two main trunks, one about 4" and

> the other about 3" in diameter.

> So yesterday I figured I would try to pull the tree straight and

> bought some cable, clamps, and instead of a stake I bought a ground

> rod figuring that a typical wooden stake wouldn't hold this tree (I

> have a small ironwood in the back yard that I'm doing the same

> treatment to.) I cut the ground rod in half, drove one half into the

> ground a few feet away from the tree, and started setting up the

> cable. Gave SWMBO a wrench with instructions that she should tighten

> the cable clamps while I was pushing the tree upright and pulling the

> cable taut. I set my back against the main trunk, held the loose end

> of the cable (I bought the cable long enough that I could loop it

> around the ground rod and back to the tree) took a breath, pushed,

> and... nothing. The damn tree is STIFF.

> Then things got stupid. I pulled the truck around front, tied a loop

> in the cable, and dropped it over the trailer hitch. Carefully I

> inched forward, but as soon as the cable pulled taut, the ground rod

> bent, and the cable slipped off of it. (this is better than what I

> expected, which was the cable snapping and whipping around. So SWMBO

> was standing well away from all this mess.) It had a good bite in the

> ground, but bent right where the clay under-soil gave way to actual

> topsoil, maybe 9" to a foot below the surface.

> So what do I do with this tree? it's the prettiest tree in my front

> yard, but looks very ghetto as it's been allowed to grow at such an

> angle. What can I use as a stake that's stronger than a ground rod?

> Rebar? And how do I pull it without using a pickup truck (e.g.

> safely) I'm thinking two cables, each with a turnbuckle in the middle,

> alternately being shortened, or maybe I should just bite the bullet

> and invest in a good, heavy come-along.

> nate

You can probably dig it up, but more likely to have success by pruning
it and keeping it pruned to get a better shape.
They sprout a lot of new brances, so pruning might not take too long.
Got a photo to post? If you take a photo to
extension service, they might be able to tell you what to do. Red-bud
and lilacs - I sure miss them.

Posted by gpsman on May 4, 2008, 9:57 am

> So what do I do with this tree? it's the prettiest tree in my front

> yard, but looks very ghetto as it's been allowed to grow at such an

> angle. What can I use as a stake that's stronger than a ground rod?

> Rebar? And how do I pull it without using a pickup truck (e.g. safely)

> I'm thinking two cables, each with a turnbuckle in the middle,

> alternately being shortened, or maybe I should just bite the bullet and

> invest in a good, heavy come-along.

First, make sure it's your tree. Those in the strip between the
sidewalk and street often belong to the local municipality.

Dig out the low side until you can rock it by hand, pull to the
desired angle via your preferred method (protecting the trunk where
your cable contacts), fill in the space under the roots with very damp
soil (to aid compaction), then stake it.

Then, heavily water it daily x7, then water "normally" daily x7.
-----

- gpsman

Posted by Doug Miller on May 4, 2008, 10:09 am

wrote:

>Hi all,

>I've got a redbud tree (at least that's what I've been told it is) in my

>front yard. Unfortunately it is growing at an angle, hanging over the

>street and actually around a streetlight. It is a very pretty tree but

>looks like hell. I think it did this because it was competing with an

>oversized elderberry bush that was left untrimmed by the previous

>owners.

[snip amusing tale of much wasted time and effort]

ROTFLMAO! It took ten years for the tree to grow that way, and you think
you're going to pull it straight, just like that, in half an hour! Ain't gonna
happen.

You've already received two good suggestions: prune it to the shape you want,
or cut it down and replace it. If, however, you're still determined to pull it
straight, the only way you have any hope of doing it is a little bit at a
time. Sink a stout post in the ground about as far away from the tree as the
tree is tall. Attach a cable with a turnbuckle as far up the trunk of the tree
as you can, and just above ground level on the post. Pull the tree as far as
you can toward the post. Then leave it alone for at least a month. Repeat as
needed. It will take years.

Posted by Nate Nagel on May 4, 2008, 10:34 am

Doug Miller wrote:
wrote:

>>Hi all,

>>I've got a redbud tree (at least that's what I've been told it is) in my

>>front yard. Unfortunately it is growing at an angle, hanging over the

>>street and actually around a streetlight. It is a very pretty tree but

>>looks like hell. I think it did this because it was competing with an

>>oversized elderberry bush that was left untrimmed by the previous

>>owners.

> [snip amusing tale of much wasted time and effort]

> ROTFLMAO! It took ten years for the tree to grow that way, and you think

> you're going to pull it straight, just like that, in half an hour! Ain't gonna

> happen.

> You've already received two good suggestions: prune it to the shape you want,

> or cut it down and replace it. If, however, you're still determined to pull it

> straight, the only way you have any hope of doing it is a little bit at a

> time. Sink a stout post in the ground about as far away from the tree as the

> tree is tall. Attach a cable with a turnbuckle as far up the trunk of the tree

> as you can, and just above ground level on the post. Pull the tree as far as

> you can toward the post. Then leave it alone for at least a month. Repeat as

> needed. It will take years.

I guess I just wasn't anticipating that I would be completely unable to
at least put a little tension on it and pull it at least an inch or two.
I understand that it takes a long time to do something like this and I
can deal with that. I don't want to cut down and start over as there
aren't a whole lot of "nice" trees in the front yard - I've got a paw
paw tree on the other side and a couple of evergreens, that's about it.
It looks like there were some nicer trees at one time, I took an
unidentified stump out yesterday and there's still the remains of a huge
cherry to be dealt with, but they are not there anymore. I guess a
redbud must be a pretty hard, dense wood? (I don't know, I'm far from a
tree expert.)

Pruning is not an option as the angle starts close above the ground; if
I cut off everything that was growing where I didn't want it to, there
wouldn't be any tree left at all. So I guess I am stuck with either
your method or else as others have suggested digging under the roots on
the street side and hoping I don't kill the damn thing.

I may try to take some pics later so you can see what I'm talking about.

why does it seem like the biggest part of owning a home is rectifying
all the stupid crap that the previous owners did? I think they meant
well but a lot of the green leafy stuff seems to have been planted
simply wherever without any thought on what it would encroach on as it
grew or what it'd be competing with.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

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