How to Stake a Tree

May 20th, 2009

Short answer, don’t. Most trees that are staked do not need to be. In fact I would venture that most trees you, the individual homeowner, plant do not need to be staked. Yes, any tree small enough to be handled by one person really doesn’t need to be staked. Trees only need to be staked when their top growth massively outweighs their rootball, and that tends to mean a large tree.

However, if you must stake a tree, let me explain to you how, because it is not as easy as you may think.

The above tree is an example of what not to do. For one, the tree is far too small to need such massive stakes. If your stake is wider than the trunk of the tree, you’re doing it wrong. For two, there are three stakes. The people obviously thought they needed to immobilize the tree trunk, and long term, those stakes have been there years. This is not the goal of staking.

Staking is used to moderate swings or to protect the tree from violent winds that could uproot it prior to it being established. It is not meant to prevent all movement. If a tree does not move it does not develop a strong trunk. Trees develop strong trunks in response to wind, it is a response mechanism, all plants do. This is also why plants grown indoors can be spindly and tall, there is no wind indoors (you can direct a fan at your seedlings to correct this).

So, when plants aren’t allowed to bend, then don’t put energy into growing stronger, so instead they grow taller. You can see this in nature. Trees clustered together in a grove will be taller and skinnier because they offer each other wind protection. Whereas the tree alone in a field with no wind protection develops a much wider trunk. This has repercussions even within the maple syrup industry as farmers have to balance planting density with the desire to encourage large trunk development.

In addition to not wanting to completely immobilize the tree, you also only need to stake it until it is established, which means one year, tops. Any longer than that and you can permanently weaken the trunk. The tree will grow tall, and spindly, and if you ever unstaked it it’d tip over like a limp noodle, so you think it needs to be staked more, nope. The only think that’ll fix a spindly trunk is removing the stakes. You stake for the roots, not for the trunk. Because of how staked securely increases vertical growth in lieu of a thicker trunk, nurseries often do it because many unwitting consumers buy the tallest tree. When you do your shopping, do yourself a favor, buy the one with the widest trunk.

Then, finally, the actual material you use to tie the tree has a big impact as well.

The above is a picture of my espaliered apple tree. Espalier is a method of training a tree to grow two dimensionally (such as along a fence) as opposed to three dimensionally. It is used for aesthetics, but also to increase air flow, make it easy to harvest fruit, and to spray fruit trees. Training is the exception to all of the above rules and is different from staking, if you’re training a tree for bonsai, espalier, niwagi, or whatever else (such as training a weeping tree to stand upright), you obviously need to tie it and manipulate it as such, but I show you this picture to show you what can happen. I had wrapped a wire around the trunk of this tree and forgotten about it, as you can see the tree has now grown around the wire and is completely encapsulating it. There is also now a good chance that eventually this wire could choke off and kill all the top growth of the tree. This wouldn’t be the end of the world to me, because two good scaffold branches exist below this point, but it would be a set back. What I should have done is loosened the wire every year, I forgot to.

But I mention all this to illustrate what can go wrong if you use the wrong material, like wire (or even synthetic ropes), to stake your tree. The tree can and will grow into it. and it can permanently harm the tree. The one thing the first picture in this post did right was to run their wire (which they shouldn’t have been using to begin with) through a bit of tubing to provide it some padding, but over time even that tubing is not big enough to fully prevent the tree from growing over it because padding or not, it is still on there tight.

So, now that I’ve written you a book on what not to do, let me write you a couple sentences on what to do.

To properly stake a tree place two stakes one foot away from the trunk on either side of the trunk in such a way that they’re perpendicular to the prevailing winds (which means typically one stake on the north side, and one of the south side, unless you’ve got abnormal wind directions in your area). Tie the stakes to the tree using something broad and flexible. Specialty tree ties are made, but old nylons work great. They’re stretchy, flexible, and broad. Then, leave your stakes on no more than one year. But before you do any of that, think if you really need to stake at all, and if the tree is less than six or seven feet high, the answer to that is usually no.

Posted in: Gardening, Troubleshooting »

12 Responses to “How to Stake a Tree”

Helen at Toronto Gardens Says:
May 20th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Good information. When I see saplings died down like the Lilliputians tied down Gulliver, I want to sneak in at night and liberate the tree.
jacque Says:
May 27th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Great info. Thanks for the tips for planting a tree.
M. D. Vaden of Oregon Says:
June 7th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
On occassion, people call me to tweak their espalier apple trees near Portland.

And about half the ones I see, have embedded wire or twine similar to the photo that you posted above.

Sometimes, they bought the house and it was a previous owner.

MDV

Oregon
Jim Says:
April 19th, 2010 at 6:19 am
I have a small (about 3 feet high) Dogwood that seems to be bending towards the north. Most wind it gets from the south or west. I don’t want it to lean further and further to the north as it grows, are you saying it will straighten itself out? Without a stake?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

Jim
Administrator Says:
April 19th, 2010 at 7:20 am
Likely it is just planted crooked.

It should straighten out though, at most trees will typically grow towards the sun, so it shouldn’t be reaching North.

If you staked it all you would be doing is weakening the trunk.

If you’re really concerned about it at most I would harshly stake it for one year, bending it into what you consider to be an upright position. You’re training it like someone would a bonsai, only on a larger scale, so it will need to be tight and forceful, but after a year the shape should be adopted so you must remember to remove the stakes.
Jim Says:
June 6th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
I have two crape myrtles [Multi trucks] brought in and planted approx 10 months ago, container grown and approx 10 feet tall. We get some rather strong winds at times. I’m concerned that the movement may affect root estabishment. How to “Stake down” the multi trunks of crape myrtles?
Administrator Says:
June 11th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
The trees have been in the ground 10 months, the roots are fine, staking is not needed. All staking will do is weaken the trunk.
Lynda Says:
June 15th, 2010 at 6:22 am
I have a 15 foot honey locust tree. This is it’s 3rd year in the ground and it has never been staked. The trunk is straight for the first 6 feet then it bends away from the west wind. The branches grow fast, at least 2 feet so far this year. The branches grow out of all sides of the tree, then about a foot away from the truck, they turn east. All the weight is on one side of the tree. We have had other honey locust trees that have broken from the weight. Should I stake the tree? Should it be tied above 6 feet? Should something else besides staking be done?

Thanks for you answer.

Lynda
Administrator Says:
June 15th, 2010 at 10:49 am
The idea that staking will strengthen a tree is a myth, staking always weakens a tree, always.

Your tree will grow stronger in response to the wind, it will grow weaker in response to a stake.

If you worry about weigh distribution, prune it. That will lighten the top load and allow the trunk to grow stronger.

It could also be that Locust can’t take wind well (I’ve no idea specifically) and so it was just a poor location to plant them.

But if you stake them, you will never be able to unstake them, as the tree will become dependent on that stake, and will need you to keep increasing the size and robustness of it as well.

Understand that lateral forces from wind forces trees to grow stronger and thicker trunks. This is why trees sitting alone in a field get girthier (but shorter) than trees growing in a forest with other trees on all sides blocking wind. Staking promotes a tall weak trunk.
gary Says:
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:59 pm
i have a purple plumb tree that i had planted 2 years ago. it is about 9 foot tall now. I staked it when i planted it. a year ago in a storm the ties broke and i found the tree lying on the ground. i restaked it and every time the wind blows it leans drasticly in the direction of the wind. i guess i was wrong to stake it. what do i do now?
Cherie Says:
August 28th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
We have 3 autumn blaze maple trees. They were 3 inch caliper field dug burlap and ball trees when we planted them 3 years ago. They have grown to have 12-14 inch trunks. They have never been staked. Everything has been fine until a few weeks ago when we started having strong southwest winds. Two of the 3 trees, rock significantly at the base and when the wind stops, they lean to the north. We have pushed them into a more upright position, but as soon as the wind blows,they lean again. What can we do to keep them upright? Are they top heavy? Do they need to be thinned or staked? The third tree does not rock or lean, but we lost a large branch in the last windstorm. Thank you.
Administrator Says:
August 29th, 2010 at 7:16 am
Time.

You did good in not staking them, and doing so helped them develop that caliper.

In areas with constant wind trees grow bent, it is just a fact. It is the windswept look, they also do not get as tall, but their trunks get wider.

If your wind is not constant, you just had these gusts, the tree will eventually self correct, and be stronger for it.

If you’re worried you could temporily stake them by placing a stake away in the direction it needs to go, and bending and tying the tree… BUT that will only weaken the trunk making bending MORE likely in the future, in the next wind storm.

I have seen trees bent significantly from a single great wind storm, but they self correct eventually. So my recommendation would be to ignore the bend.

As for pruning, you should prune the trees if one side is heavier in appearance of substance than another, to even things out. This is mostly for aesthetic reasons, you should do this regardless of any lean, but certainly not because of a lean. So if the low side has more growth, sure, prune it, but you should prune it anyways (for best appearance) even if the tree was straight up and down.