I did not know what I was doing when I bought the tree and got one that was too tall for its thickness

==>> yes.. you went for instant gratification on height .. rather than a shorter.. better formed plant ... but that is hindsight ...

but i still wonder why it lacks lateral branches ...

is the root flare at soil surface???

i have to ponder this.. you might be best off ... cutting it off.. at about the height of the middle fence brace.. and work on pruning it into a new form ...

i would also suggest you remove the grass in a 3 foot ring.. and properly mulch it ...

your base problem at this point.. is the sail that is created when in leaf ... by any chance.. does the prevailing wind move right to left in the pic????

ken

The root flare is at the soil surface and, believe it or not, there is about 2 inches of mulch on top of that. I just let the Bermuda invade last summer. It should be easy to clear out but it sounds like I need to clear a larger ring, it is only about 1.5 ft radius right now. What does clearing the grass do for the tree? It seems like it is growing like crazy just not in the directions I want. Sorry if it is a stupid question, I am an engineer not a Arborist.

Yes, the prevailing wind is in the direction of the bend, and it can be pretty strong.

I feel if I had to cut the tree off that low I might as well buy a new tree that has better shape. There's that instant gratification thing again :).

As an alternative to staking, could I brace the trunk by attaching a bamboo pole at the base and several place up the trunk to pull the trunk in a straight line? No problem with staking just thinking of something that would be easier to mow around.

Because the tree is so tall and spindly, you may consider pruning the leader at around 6' high. This could potentially fix both the bend and the poor lateral branching. Staking that tree will not be easy and may take a long time to cnfirm that it is working.. I have had to cut back a couple oaks of similar age to 4' after heavy deer damage. Both bouced back well and put out heavy lateral branches. Not exactly textbook, but you will know if the tree is worth keeping pretty quickly.

Kenny you said "at the end of the first summer"...so, this tree was this tall-more or less-when planted? That might indicate it was kept staked, or worse yet, bamboo poled right up until shortly before you bought/planted it. This could be why it never developed any trunk taper or strength. In other words, any old oak in the woods, if it had grown to this height, would be fully self-supporting. Somebody at some stage of the growing process "helped" this tree by staking or poling it, leaving you with this mess. Make sense?

I agree with Horster and others who have suggested some otherwise less than desirable methods. Or...a new, different tree. If I'm at all right about the genesis of this, it reconfirms that there's a great deal of practice in the nursery and "garden center" industries that is not up to snuff...and not up to date in terms of following research and actual science. It's not your fault-every person who buys a tree shouldn't have to be a horticultural expert. I don't know exactly how to build a furnace, but I should be able to buy one that's not faulty.

guy wires would be a nightmare for many years to come ...

if it were me ... and since you brought up the option ... i would plant a second ... and then mess around with this one ... and see if cutting it back to 4 to 6 feet.. might make a difference ...

if you succeed... would two trees really be all that bad???

i would also ... just use a straight shovel.. sharpened ... cut out a wedge of the grass.. and roundup everything inside the circle ... until it is dead ... and then apply some more mulch.. but dont bury the trunk.. no mulch volcano ...

sharpening the shovel first.. really makes cutting sod easy ... an example is at the link ... no need to mail order it .... local bigbox ought to have such ...

ken

http://www.amleo.com/leonard-square-point-closed-back-shovel-with-48in-ash-handle/p/SQW4/

Why remove the sod?

When it's dead, it's a mulch.

Mike

Agreed^. That's what Roundup (or yes, yes, the many generic equivalents) is for.

Looks like you have an awful amount of wind there, or alot of wet snow or freezing rain doing a number.

I like Hamburglar's suggestion of cutting off below the bend. Red oaks should recover quickly. Using that option wouldn't require staking as the trunk base is still straight out of the ground.

I believe poor nursery practice-I outlined same up above-is responsible for this poor form. There are trees in very windy places all over the planet that manage to grow relatively straight. While there's no way to prove it, if there was, I'd bet a dozen donuts that this tree was staked or had a stick of bamboo or something tied tightly to it in the nursery or garden center. Any old go-to-hell tree can grow straight. It takes special "help" to get them to do this.

I have noticed a lot of street trees planted by municipalities and commercial developers with similar problems. Not sure if developers push their supplying nurseries to grow them tall and skinny or what. My town planted a bunch of skinny red maples and pin oaks on a main road and many of them are bent over like this. Not a good look. Have not seen trees grown like this at retail nurseries, even the lower end ones.

At the risk of stirring up some disagreement, I'd go with the bamboo staking method. I've done this before (many times) and had good results, as long as the tree is given enough time to put on sufficient caliper to stabilize itself. But you will have to periodically inspect and adjust the ties so they don't constrict. You may also need to guy the bamboo to stakes to keep the tree vertical.

Nursery growers often use bamboo to maintain straightness in field production of caliper sized trees.

Dave, I'm not disagreeing with you or anyone else when it comes to what to do with the tree now. I'm talking about how it got that way. That's not acceptable product and that's not natural tree growth. I maintain, this happened because somebody tied this thing to the stake to help it and through whatever practices they had, ended up "growing" something that can't stand up on its own. That's not normal.

Agreed, Tom. Growers often attempt to push out as much growth/height/size as possible without enough regard to stability in the landscape.

Thank you everybody for the great responses!

I like ken_adrian's idea of cut off the tree and trying to save it but at the same time get a second one going. I have plenty of open space back there.

So is there any special method or do I just pick a spot and cut it off with a saw? I assume like pruning I will want to do this now, before spring?

Yes on now, before spring, but as far as where to make such a cut, I'd go just beyond one of its few little branches. It will be an oddity for some time to come, but chances are at least even that you will eventually be able to beat a good tree out of it.

In truth, I have seen oaks exactly like this one, in some of our stormwater properties. These trees were planted prior to my getting onboard that utility and I think were likely potted little trees-the little part is okay-that had bamboo tightly tied to them "at birth". Why people who bother to grow trees in so many cases haven't a clue about how thrifty and vigorous...and SELF-SUPPORTING young trees in nature are is beyond me. In fact, I know the vendor who supplied these and they are not tree experts, but are quite good at other facets of the "native landscaping" side of things.

oak have dormant buds along the trunk ... i would look at a point where the trunk is straight.. and look for the bumps that are the buds ... and then make a 45 degree cut about a quarter inch above such ... [my first cut wouold take off 50% of the top weight.. so the last ... maybe the third cut can be more surgical ... more controlable]

i would pick the side into the wind ... ...

if you ID a 6 inch space.. give us a pic ... and perhaps tom can discuss where to make the cut .... if you put some marks on the pic ... or even a ruler we can see.. it will help us describe the spot ...

see if this link gives you the general idea ... maybe tom has a better search term ... for more specific links ...

ken

also give us a caliper width of the trunk ... a second variable would be ... how low to go ... so we dont end up with the same sail boat sail ...

anyone know if there are fastigate forms of oak???

i hate when i forget links ... ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=dormant+buds+on+oak&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfu8n4v9nKAhUkx4MKHW1LDYUQ_AUIBygB&biw=923&bih=745&dpr=0.9#imgrc=_

I would wait a couple more years before doing anything. I have had 2 red oaks, out of a hundred or more, do the same thing. They bent over to almost horizontal. Sometime around year 4, I noticed that they were suddenly standing erect, so I put the pruners away and the trees are looking perfectly normal today.

A lot of good suggestions, I think they would all work if you are patient. One thing to keep in mind is the roots are close to being "established" and no matter what you do they will be able to help the tree make a quick recovery vs bringing in a new tree and having it go through that establishment period again.

Here is what I have done with fast growing species and it has worked quite well.

1) Cut 1 before growing season and then tie the "new leader" to the old leader stub with non girdling green tape to bend/straighten it. Let it grow through the season and harden off in this position. 2) make Cut 2 eliminating the stub left from the old leader (I have done it in the fall but there could be risks in doing this, I'm not sure when it's best for pruning oaks.)

Not sure if this is by the book but it has worked great for me :)

Good luck!

I'm usually not a fan of things tied to trees but in this case-since it is clearly remedial-I think longtee's idea avoids wasting that side branch. Probably worth a try.

Me, I'd cut it further down where it's still straight and thus not necessary to stake.

Not going to split hairs...whatever one tries, it's going to (possibly) be better than it is at present.