On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 11:36:28 -0500, "miamicuse"
wrote:

Thanks for the advise, the problem however is actually getting to a point
where I can stake it.

This is a picture of what the situation is:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-...reeleaning.JPG

The tree is near the corner of a fenced area. I added some red dashes to
show where the roots are coming up and the soil is loosened...and the green
arrows showing how it is leaning.

I need to push it in the opposite direction. I cannot use a car or truck
inside the fence as cars cannot access that area. To it's left is a
swimming pool and another tree.

I along with two other neigbors tried pushing it by hand, didn't yield at
all.

I outlined the fences in two colors. The brown outlined side butts up
against my neighbor, who has a pool on the other side, so can't pull from
there. Otherwise that would be the right direction to pull.

On the other side of the blue fence is a back alley wide enough for cars.
This is where they come pick up garbage. I can get a truck in there to pull
using a rope? But it will be pulling at an angle instead. Also, the main
truck is lower than the fence where I can apply leverage, so may be pulling
will mess up the fence.

Is this tree caught between "a pool and a fence"? I can see no good
solution...
If you had that much trouble moving it, it probably isn't going
anywhere. The side of the root system away from the lean has been
damaged, and most likely the resulting gap in the soil was backfilled
naturally, so there is no longer a hole down there to push the tree
back into.

The big question is, can you pull it over more? Obviously you don't
want to put too much into testing this or you might just pull it down.
But you want a sense of how much the roots are still holding (the
roots between the tree and the red fence--and beyond--are what keep
the tree from falling in the direction of the lean). If it seems
pretty strong, you probably had more of a soil shift than anything,
and you should enjoy the character of your now-leaning tree. If it
seems you could pull the whole thing over, you've lost a lot of roots
and you need to help the tree maintain the current lean (as opposed to
going further toward failure). It might be nice if the fence were
farther away, but you can put in a stake near the fence and tether the
trunk to it. That will help hold the tree up until roots can regrow
on the damaged side. After a year or so, remove the staking and hope
for the best.

good luck,
Keith Babberney
ISA Certified Arborist #TX-0236AT