how big a stake do you need for a 25 foot tree ...

how long it has to stay there ... well .. until the tree can re-establish its root system to hold itself vertical ... i doubt you will get a specific answer ....

all that said.. are you willing to look at the stake and rope for 3 to 5 years????

IF IT WERE ME .... i would be done with it.... who said all your plants have to look exactly the same ... diversity of height would be a plus in my world... warped as it is..

good luck

ken

Thanks Ken.....I have secured it temporaily with the rope but was going to to make a couple of wire leads with a piece of garden hose to protect the trunk and stake them in the ground. I don't mind looking at that as it beats the view of my neighbor's house that the Leyland blocks.

I agree with diversity but these Leylands were planted to be a screen to block the house next door.

Tom

Leyland cypress can be short-lived, disease-prone trees and all have shallow root systems, making them prone to toppling.

Hopefully you planted them properly, removing the wire and burlap so the trees could get a decent root system. You should stake them properly with metal posts and hopefully in 2-3 years you can repaint them and maybe there will be a decent root system by then to give them a few more years. Monitor them carefully and if they start to get critters and out of control for you, you can consider what will replace the ones that succumb.

Dan

hey dan.. your link failed .. for me anyway ....

i figured view blocking was the issue ... but what often happens.. when they all grow up together... then tend to age the same.. and all start having the same problems ... e.g. .. how do you know the one on either side of the affected one.. now doesnt have root issues for the next storm?????

ergo ... by removing this one.. and having just a bit of a view of the neighbor.. you can get a something else going so that in 3 to 5 years.. when the next fails... the new one will be doing its job ..

i have no personal experience with these plants.. but i have read at least 100 times.. how they fail .. they seem to be planted because they are fast growing.. but all ... all ... fast growing trees and conifers.. eventually fail.. simple because they are fast growing ...

it may be time to think long and hard.. about where you are going to be... screen-wise.. 5 .. 10.. 15 years down the line... and perhaps plant some new stock... while the old is still there... so removal and replacement is not so extraordinary ...

a picture might sure help delineate the issues for us..

good luck

have fun whatever you decide ... ken

There is a section of a law in Great Britain that is colloquially called the 'Leylandii law' because of all the issues with these things.

Nonetheless, try this linky. Worked for me this time, but so did the one above...

Dan

Ken, you're not alone; Dan's links don't work for me either. If they are the same picture that he's posted before that shows how to stake smaller trees, I can't imagine how that would apply to a 25' tree (would sure take some giant stakes). But, maybe it is a different picture/diagram.

Like others, above, I am wondering if the tree was planted correctly. I suspect a poorly developed root system possibly caused from problems not addressed at planting. Regardless of the exact cause, the successful re-establishment of the root system is going to be an up-hill battle with a tree this large and in this condition. If the tree is failing now, there's a problem. Staking the tree probably isn't going to resolve the problem in the long run.

Thanks for the responses. When these Leylands were planted, the wire and burlap were removed. The root ball was about 2' in diameter. The holes were dug to be about 3' in diameter and when placed in the hole the root ball was exposed at the top by 3". My friend and I planted 21 of these and all have done well until now except this one. Thankfully he had a backhoe and it made the project so much easier. I did have an issue with BOT about 2 years ago on some of them but did take care of that and it has not returned.

We have had a very wet year and with all the snow and the ground was not frozen, so when I saw the soil on the opposite side of the lean was disturbed I thought the wet ground and all that snow just caused the tree to lean.

Tom

PS Dan, I could not get the link to work either.

I'm not sure what to do about the link, as they work when I test them in Preview. Ah, well, they are the standard conifer staking with the three stakes, guy wire, and attachment to the trunk low down toward finish grade.

In other words, rather than staking you are going to {{gwi:491091}} and not stake. And I'd use metal T-posts. And if you winch-come along it to vertical, take your time and do it before ground freezes. And watch these plants carefully as they decline quickly when the go.

Again, links-img work in preview.

{{gwi:491091}}

Dan

A 25 ft. conifer leaning with disturbed soil sounds like firewood or perhaps posts. At 10-12 ft. and 2-3 years after planting I'd say try to correct as noted above. At this point its gone.

1 out of 21 mortality over that much time is pretty good, only a 4.8% failure rate. Or as I should optimistically state 95.2% successful! I'm really impressed.

Is this a REAL formal row? How about you plant a replacement tree and plant it where it can more or less fill in but won't be crunched if the leaning one does like I think and probably fails.

The usual problem with leaning plantings is deforming of the roots by careless container culture. Fast-growing items such as this one are almost guaranteed to be root-bound on the market here. I would be surprised if that is not your problem in this instance, you may see more of it elsewhere in the planting later. It manifests after the top has developed long enough to overwhelm the knotted/circling roots, which may even act as a bulb- or turnip-like joint on which the top pivots over.

bboy, I'm thinking 1 out of 21 bent over after a dozen years is a better survival rate than the natural grown trees in the field across the street from me!

Not saying the one which gave up wasn't the one with the worst root system of the bunch. Something made that one go first obviously.

Just I think on the whole tbuck is doing fairly well.