By JoAnne Skelly — When I see trees being tortured by horrible tree staking, it upsets me. I hate the practice of leaving tree stakes, ties and guy wires on trees for years. After a year or two of being staked, the ties and wires gouge into the bark and soft tissue under the bark until the tissue tries to grow over it.
This girdling cuts off the trees’ vascular system and disrupts the flow of water up from the soil to the leaves and food produced by photosynthesis from the leaves to the roots. Linda Chalker-Scott, Ph.D. Horticulturist from Washington State University, calls this “rampant tree bondage” in her fact sheet on staking.
She admits to “playing tree liberator on more than one occasion.
What’s the big deal? Less water and food caused by this poor practice negatively affects a plant’s growth causing smaller leaves, shorter needles, increased tissue death and shorter heights. These trees are more prone to windthrow and breakage. The action of the girdling wires acts like a saw, cutting through the trunk of the tree bit by bit, day after day, until one day a big wind comes and snaps the tree off at this weakened point. In addition, trees that are stressed are more prone to insect infestations and disease.
“Trees that are staked too tightly or for too long cannot sway in the breeze and therefore do not develop the girth, taper or root stability necessary to surviving future wind stress…Such trees are more likely to experience crown breakage or uprooting once the staking is removed (Chalker-Scott).
“Newly planted trees should be staked firmly and securely” is a myth about staking (Chalker-Scott). Even though I live in a high wind zone, I have successfully planted numerous trees without staking.
If a tree comes from a nursery with a stake in its container, the stakes need to be removed upon transplanting, unless the tree cannot stay upright. Too often outdated staking techniques are used. And there is often little to no care after a tree is installed to remove the staking materials at the appropriate time, if ever.
Chalker-Scott says most container stock and correctly dug ball and burlap plants do not need staking, but bare root trees often do. She writes that the stakes need to be removed after the roots have established, no longer than one growing season.
Here in our arid environment, it may be two growing seasons. All materials for staking must allow the tree to move all the way down to the ground for healthy tree development.
— JoAnne Skelly is Associate Professor & Extension Educator, Emerita at University of Nevada Cooperative Extension skellyj@unr.edu.
