my only concern is your scary drawing skills .. lol ...

how big.. potted.. ball and burlap ...

i see no real problem with it..

other than you ability for it not to drive you insane because you paid a lot of money for it ...

if you can not worry about it.. and relax.. i presume the tree wont be bothered by it...

ken

Its a 1.5" caliper B&B tree.

Doesn't bother me just want to be sure its not an issue before I undo the burlap, twine and backfill.

I've see offsets in trunks before but not right off the rootflare like that.

Up and running...here is a pic.

Problem, no problem?

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Hey, whaas, looks acceptable to me. Might be a plant that, when young, was bumped or offset by a tiller or misstep by a nursery employee and grew upright after that, causing the root flare to be askew. If it were mine I would probably put a strap and stake on the side of the "dip" for a season. OK, OK, I may have now started a dissertation on the value of staking a tree, but, like I said I would have done that if it were mine. Not going to hurt the tree's trunk strength or taper with one year of staking until root development has had a couple of rooting seasons to stabilize the tree. Non-stakers, argue with me.
By the way, glad to see that you are planting American yellowwood, a hugely under-used good tree. Oops, another opoinion.

Thanks...keep the feedback coming.

I am holding off on backfilling until tomorrow. The nursery is checking out another tree that was damaged so if this one is an issue I will return this one as well.

Besides the major offset it almost looks like there is a graft union which doesn't make any sense...so thought the offset may have something to do with it.

Again this offset doesn't bother me, just want to make sure its not apparent that this tree will be troublesome down the road.

I always wondered how long it would take for one of these to have something scratched into the fine smooth bark if it were accessible to the public. This one seems to have already acquired something, near where the trunk runs off the top of the frame. Either that or it's my eyes trying to make sense out of a random pattern...but it looks like "RLP" and a little below that, "RIPLLRY."

I don't know the Yellowwood, but as for the root flare there is no problem - I have a gorgeous really, really old Choke Cherry tree that grew out like that and it is awesome to look at with the Lichen-covered bark and angled trunk. The branches grow up and out like a 3/4 umbrella, but it is angled into the yard, so all the shade is right where I want it, blocking the intense southern sun.

I'm now training a Black Walnut that a squirrel planted to do the same thing over my fence gate.

As for the bark that looks like a graft union, it seems healed, but it almost looks like it had been girdled early in life; either that or when it was a seedling it grew as a triple-leader tree and two leaders were pruned off (rather late in life) and that is where it healed.

I just looked up the American Yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea) and it seems like a warmer climate tree.

Anyway, I got this from Wikipedia:
The only objections that is mentioned is a tendency of the trunk to divide very near the ground.[1]

That explains what looks like a graft union! Similar problem with Redbuds.

cacau, it could be that I'm slow but not sure I understand your post...with the exception that the thin smooth bar on yellowwood can easily be damaged.

Well between natschultz, ken and hortster the general consensus is we're ok here?

After time it will add wood to the necessary side and it will appear straighter and sturdier. For what it's worth, I see a lot of much larger trees growing out of rock outcroppings high above the ground that look like that at the base.

I agree that there is no problem. In a few years, as the trunk and root flare grow, I bet you won't even be able to tell it was like that.

Appreciate all the feedback, I'll stick with it.

That's known as a "J" root. The below quote is from the link posted below.

"A new problem identified to us at a recent trade show was called the "J-root". This is a problem being caused by mechanical planting of B&B trees. As the transplant machine moves down the row digging a trench, the seedlings are set into the trench and dragged slightly in transit. This causes the loose roots to be drawn to the rear rather than spreading out in all directions. The trunk flare ends up having a "J" shape with roots growing in one direction. As the tree grows it will not be stable in the ground."

Here is a link that might be useful: J Root

I looked more into the j-root and it seems that its more related to the actual roots forming a j-shape off the flare. My tree seems to creat a j-shape above the flares.

The right side has a flare that starts deeper than the flare on the left side.

I made sure the right side is still above grade.

Any other thoughts on the j-root issue? Where is Dan when you need him?

My whole concern was the trees ability to stabilize because of the dip. I had someone (horticulturist) out from the nursery and they said it appeared fine. Not surprised but they also said they wouldn't have dug it if they thought it would be a problem.

Does the "indented" side, the right site in your drawing and photo, have roots going out away from the trunk?

When I worked at the local arboretum in the Urban Forestry Dept, their Consulting Arborists referred to this shape of a trunk as "j-rooted".

Hey carrie, I'm going to check out the otherside a little more closely and get a snapshot to post.

Thanks, whaas. Dig down a bit on that side and see if the roots are going out, or if there are roots that are sort of swinging back in the other direction.

When we were out walking nurseries for B & B city street trees, we encountered this. According to the arborists I worked with, the trees were often planted "off the back of a moving truck", so the roots and trunk would go in the hole with roots (and trunk) all swinging toward the direction the truck was moving away from, if that makes sense, instead of having roots more or less evenly distributed around the root flare, and more or less all flaring directly out away from the trunk.

Couple more pics:

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I started looking at this more closely and it looks like this is an issue.

On the dip side the roots flare down but still angle out.

On the high side they just go straight down.

Any last thoughts? Thanks everyone!

Before planting I use a long, skinny screwdriver as a probe to determine the depth of the root flare in the ball without having to pull back the burlap. You might gently probe what you call the "high side" where the roots go straight down to see if they indeed begin to flare outward and away from the trunk. If they do, you probably don't need to worry about the future stability. If you don't find them heading away from the trunk, you may have the "J".
hortster

Couple more pics from the high side. The root looks like it goes straight down, I probed and didn't hit anything on that particular side.

Thoughts?

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