Plum tree crisis!!!

[smallblueplanet]

EEK! Got up this morning to find that the North winds last night have nearly blown over the plum tree that we planted last year.

It had been staked against the normal prevailing winds, but......

So whats the best thing to do with it? Its leaning at a 35 degree angle and is about 7ft high. Should we straighten it, restake and maybe later in the summer take some of the top off to give the roots chance to be able to keep upright the weight of the tree?

[TPeers]

Is the trunk undamaged?

I would put in three short stakes, put in at a 45 deg angle, in a triangle around the tree, aiming to have the stake tops about 2' up the trunk.

You could then fix the trunk to these. It should be said that while this minimises the wind-rock of the roots, the top can still move freely, so in theory the top could be snapped off...

Oh, and on re-reading this, yes I would push it upright again - unless you like the angle it is at!

[pigletwillie]

I would tilt it back to the vertical and then restake it with a stake long enough to go well into the ground and support the trunk up until the near to where the branches are. Also heel it in well again.

Good luck

[smallblueplanet]

Thanks chaps.

Would you take some of the height of the tree down at all?

[TPeers]

Depends - if you can do so without loosing too much fruit and/or making the tree look lopsided.....

It's wet enough, the remaining feeder roots might take up the load.

[smallblueplanet]

It hasn't flowered this year or at all I think, so it must still be quite young? We bought it from Parkers cos it was a dual fruiting plum and we thought that was a good idea cos we didn't have room for two trees.

It can get very windy here, so if we did shorten some of the branches when might be a good idea to do it?

[pigletwillie]

Whilst it has leaf on SBP but once its staked properly and re-established it may well be ok.

How about festooning it rather than pruning?

[smallblueplanet]

Had been thinking about the festooning idea the other day, cos the second plum graft was growing into the other bigger graft and they were gonna rub against each other - so I said to the OH, hmmm festooning would stop the branches crossing each.

Its early - pruning was the word I couldn't think of!

[smallblueplanet]

More info - according to the OH the ground is absolutely sodden. We are down in a vale on the plain of a big stream/small river and so although drainage is no problem, it appears that waterlogging maybe?

Brrrrr its cold out there too!

Edit - Well got a couple of temporary stakes in and the tree is upright again.

[TPeers]

Keep an eye on the water levels - if the water table stays high after the current band of rain passes you may need remedial drainage - roots that are waterlogged for a long time will die.

Hope all goed well

Terry

[smallblueplanet]

Thanks Terry, will keep an eye out, it does tend to drain well though fortunately.