GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Dwarf apple lean -- correction possible?

21-12-2004, 04:44 PM

writes:
We have a dwarf Mutsu apple (great flavor) which developed a severe
"lean" after a fall rain. The tree was heavily weighted on one side
with a lot of fruit. After more rain the lowest branch is nearly touching
the ground.

Has anyone had any success in righting such a tree, possibly by applying
tension over months of time? My wife says just rip it out... and I have
to say that once the soil has been displaced it's easy to imagine the same
problem reoccurring even if we manage to straighten it up.

Tales of success or failure welcome!

A bit over two years ago, during a heavy wind storm after our soil having
been saturated with rain for several days, one of my pear trees fell over,
not just leaning but all the way over onto the chain link fence. The
cherry tree had fallen over that June (that was a decay problem, the trunk
was completely hollow!), so I just had to try to save the pear tree, not
wanting to lose two trees in one year!

The neighbor came over and, between the two of us, we managed to get it
upright and braced it with a large forked limb from the cherry tree. That
left the end of the brace far enough from the tree to allow a stake to be
driven into the ground to secure the brace. It has borne fruit two
summers since that happened. We've left the brace and stake in place and
are not likely to remove it for another couple of years to help ensure the
roots have had a chance to secure themselves even more in what became soil
that was too loose. The tree was probably at least ten or fifteen years
old, hard to say since it appears to be a semi-dwarf of some type as it
doesn't seem to want to grow especially tall and is probably12-15 feet at
the tallest, but then hard to say with pruning. (It's a Barlett with
lucious fruit!)

Regarding your soil being displaced, I would think as long as the tree is
upright and secure, that time will attend to the soil issue. You
wouldn't, off course, want to remove the braces in just a few weeks, it
being important to give the soil plenty of time to "re-establish" as well
as new roots to grow into new areas. Definitely don't cultivate the soil
in the drip line. If the braces are not attractive, place some yard
ornaments around them to disguise the braces, maybe a good place for deer
statues? (Be creative.)

It wouldn't be my desire to just get rid of a good tree because it leans
if there is any way it can be saved. If you remove it, it has no chance
for recovery. If you try and it doesn't make it, you can always remove it
later. Luck may very well be on your side as it was for the pear tree and
it will flourish and reward you for the effort. It will surely survive at
least long enough for you to get some good grafts from it. It's worth the
effort to try to save it, especially if you like the fruit. Even a same
variety may not give as delicious of fruit as this one does (whereas
grafts would).

Definitely give it a try!

Glenna