bending yellowwood

Mahk_Adams

Mahk_Adams

Location
Bloomington, Indiana
My neighbor has a small (1" diam) yellowwood (Cladrastis kentuckea, formerly Cladrastis lutea) that is bent over from the weight of the new growth. She said it did the same thing last year, so she thinned it to see if it would straighten out, but that didn't help. More new growth this year and more bending, so she wonders if she should prune it, stake it, or wait and see if it straightens out by itself. This is a rural, forested area and the overstory is fifty feet or more, so its not a result of phototropism.

Thoughts on what she should do--prune it, stake it, or leave it?

Thanks!
 
Perhaps some reduction cuts instead of removal thinning cuts?
And no fertilizer if thats the case. May be growing too fast for its own good.
 
Mechanic wire or some other sort of bendable, like 2mm or larger diameter. Wrap it in a spiral around the stem, but don't make it tight to the stem. Just loose wraps that will hold it's shape, keeping the stem upright. If you make them tight it will hinder the tree. If it's done right it won't affect the tree.
Other than the fact that when you brace or stake a young tree, depending on how severe or for how long, it won't have the same fine strength as a tree that grew on its own, allowed to react to what nature and it's own growth habits make it do.
 
A one inch diameter tree? Stake it. Either 3 or 4 T-posts, some rope and pieces of garden hose to go over the rope where it goes around the trunk. Leave it staked for two years, plenty of time for the trunk to thicken up. Nebraska is a very windy state, we have to stake nearly all new trees, especially the fruit trees.
 
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