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Newly Planted Tall Mature Trees Keep Falling Over, Please Advise How To Fix!
thefeester05403
Posts: 11
Hello,
As part of putting in a new garden for a new build house I brought in a load of mature trees from Italy. Nearly all of them have made the transition from sunny Italy to fairly miserable Ireland quite well. But I'm having trouble specifically with 3 very tall mature Pinus Pinea/Stone Pines that just keep falling over (not completely but shifting in the ground and leaning over) every time it's windy.
When these were in the nursery they seemed to be supported by steel wires like this:
But since we've planted them in our garden, any attempts to hold them up have not worked
Now in real life they look a lot worse than in the pictures. The gardeners have tried to keep them up with stakes/ties but they just keep leaning over. They tried attaching them to the garden wall (I thought this was a bad idea) and they pulled a chunk of the wall out! We actually had the same issue out in the back when I planted smaller Pinus Pinea 2 years ago. Their trunk does not seem to support the head. With those ones I put stakes lower down and guyed the head and within a year they were strong enough (the trunks got much thicker) to take the supports away.
The problem with these ones is I can't find anything suitable as they are so big. I probably need something like the metal poles in the nursery to support them higher up. Though those poles probably have big concrete foundations which would not be great as I don't want to have them there forever. What might be good if it existed would be some kind of tall metal poles with ground screws which I could put in place temporarily till the trees become stronger and then remove them in a year or two if they could handle it. I suspect the trees are not used to the level of wind we get here in Ireland vs their nice life in Italy to date.
Anyway, any advice on what I need would be much appreciated. I've had a good look about online but can't find anything suitable.
Thanks!
As part of putting in a new garden for a new build house I brought in a load of mature trees from Italy. Nearly all of them have made the transition from sunny Italy to fairly miserable Ireland quite well. But I'm having trouble specifically with 3 very tall mature Pinus Pinea/Stone Pines that just keep falling over (not completely but shifting in the ground and leaning over) every time it's windy.
When these were in the nursery they seemed to be supported by steel wires like this:
But since we've planted them in our garden, any attempts to hold them up have not worked
Now in real life they look a lot worse than in the pictures. The gardeners have tried to keep them up with stakes/ties but they just keep leaning over. They tried attaching them to the garden wall (I thought this was a bad idea) and they pulled a chunk of the wall out! We actually had the same issue out in the back when I planted smaller Pinus Pinea 2 years ago. Their trunk does not seem to support the head. With those ones I put stakes lower down and guyed the head and within a year they were strong enough (the trunks got much thicker) to take the supports away.
The problem with these ones is I can't find anything suitable as they are so big. I probably need something like the metal poles in the nursery to support them higher up. Though those poles probably have big concrete foundations which would not be great as I don't want to have them there forever. What might be good if it existed would be some kind of tall metal poles with ground screws which I could put in place temporarily till the trees become stronger and then remove them in a year or two if they could handle it. I suspect the trees are not used to the level of wind we get here in Ireland vs their nice life in Italy to date.
Anyway, any advice on what I need would be much appreciated. I've had a good look about online but can't find anything suitable.
Thanks!
0
Posts
The problem witth yours is that the roots have had no time to get out into the surrounding soil to anchor your trees so you need to build some kind of frame around them to hold them steady while they grow new roots. I'd suggest 4 tall posts, buried to decent depth around each tree, with wooden spacers to secure them at the base and top. Then you use ties attach the trunk to each post to hold the trees upright within the posts.
They'll need to be there several years so make them sturdy and you'll need to check the ties regularly to make sure they're not strangling the trunk or chafing the bark.
I think you would need to anchor them on three sides. Can that be done? In the picture it looks like there is a hedge behind it but do you own behind that hedge? If you do I would use large in ground supports and guide wires.
If I'm stuck with using support posts that are in front of the trees is there a way of using these to "push" the tree backwards, ie straps wont be of use to push the tree away from the post.
In the case of one of the 2 trees close to the wall I can maybe get an angle to pull it backwards from the ground. I was thinking if I could maybe get a strong ground screw put deep into the ground and then run a strap from there to the upper section of the tree to try and pull it back and use posts also.
I'm not sure how big strong of poles I'd need also. I can get these 4 x 4 inch ones which are 5.4m long: https://www.timbertrove.com/4-x-4-95-x-95mm-rounded-edge-pao-treated-post-3412-p.asp
Assuming I put them 1.4m down into the ground (they might need to go further down) I'd have 4m above ground (the trees are about 10m+ tall) but I'm not sure if they will be strong enough to hold it at that thickness?
Thanks again!
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
But the main issue (as it was with the smaller ones we planted previously) seems to be the trunk is weak and can't stand up straight without support.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
You will have to give these trees hundreds of gallons of water now to keep them alive for the next several years until their roots have recovered. Planting them close to a wall is not a good idea as the wind can hit the wall and then bounce back, buffeting the trees from 2 directions.
You certainly have a problem on your hands. What is on the other side of the wall? Are you going to have to top the trees in a few years? Are the branches going to interfere with neighbours and have to be cut back to the wall on their side eventually? Not a pretty sight.