"Hake" wrote in message

I have the above robinia in my front garden (planted last year) and
am
concerned for its welfare. It suffered badly in winds, it had poor
roots
when i got it & it has had a branch snapped off. To me,it looks like
it is
in too windy a position ( front garden, we live in a housing estate
on top
of a hill). My question is, should I leave it to fight on & pull
through? -
does someone own one that has grown up in such a situation? Or
should I just
cut my loses and find somthing more tolerant of exposure?

Robinia pseudoacacia are usually as tough as old boots. Here in
Australia, they are used often in paddocks as animal shelter or in
driveway leading to farmhouses because they don't need much care and
that means that they don't need much water or after planting care and
can cope with dry conditions and scorching sun and wind.

However having said that, yours sounds like it has had a nasty start
in life so I'd give it a bit of TLC for a while to see if it would
come good before ripping it out. Give it some P or K (whichever one
it is that promotes root growth - sorry but can never remember which
of those it is). I'd also give it some seaweed emulsion on a 3 weekly
basis (only one watering can full if it's a small plant) and I'd give
it some protection from the wind for a while (I'd use the filtering
effects of what is called 'shadecloth' here, but I don't know if you
have that in the UK). I'd also stake it loosely - ie, use 2 stakes,
one either side and do a doulbe figure of 8 tie around the plant to
each stake so that the plant is not itself tied but the stakes give
support so that the plant can move a bit (movement strengthens roots,
but too much isn't good)