Fred prune any crossing branches that grow toward the trunk and shape it to however many branches seem "balanced" to you. Right? (at least on the second part of my answer to your pruning question). Staking is needed for any tree that you know will get whipped around, but only for one full year. Another thing you'll need to do for several years until it gets some size as well as to protect it from not only yourself, but rabbit's is fencing. Mulching is a real good idea too. I always on a small scale (residential yard) drive those green-painted and with the rigid component, "stake" (they're commonly used for the posts of a 'quick up' fence), two of them, on each side of the trunk... I then use thin wire and and old rag to protect the trunk from the wire and get that tree staked for my own satisfaction and call it finished, naturally. See ya Fred, Dax

Are these the umbrellas with concentric lines (meaning the inner spans are shorter than the outer spans), or are they the umbrellas with all the lines parallel and evenly long? Actually as I think of it, my answer would be the same, in both cases. In my umbrellas (and my straight lines, too) I use a system of alternate lines running in opposite directions to counterpose the strains. Meaning in my umbrellas (which are all the concentrictly-rigged variety) I start off two strands of flex running in opposite directions, alternating on every other row. The flex isn't tied off for each individual span, or ring, instead it travels along the skeleton to the next, but one, series, if that makes sense. And about half-way out I strain and tie off the line to isolate the effects of weight or temperature driven line stretch. It's two person job to pull and match the tension of these opposing runs, but it works well and I don't have any major distortion, even under load in heavy storms. I use the same tactics in long lines: opposing, alternate lengths, tensioned against each other during set-up and from time to time when readjusting. Often I do get sort of trapezoidal shifting on the longlines which span multiple T-bars, but it isn't really a problem. At the beginning, middle and end of each line, I find that a simple knot and a short tail works best to allow me make occasional tweaks. In my area we have wide annual temperature swings, on the order of about 120F over the course of a year. This makes a big difference in line stretch over time. A tightly rigged set-up is pleasing to the eye, but I don't get fanatical about it, though. My umbrellas are not hexagional, but rectangular and not square, either. My advice about stringing would be same no matter what shape. BTW, I prefer to have the center poles of umbrellas loose, rather than set in concrete. They are set in (or actually, in my case over) pipe supports that are set in concrete, but it is useful to have the actual stems loose enough to pivot. HTH, L

Sounds like the rim joist may be rolling over. How you fix it depends on the surrounding structure. How far off the ground is the deck? If you're up off the ground a bit, you could extend the post down below the rim joist, then add a support under the deck that prevents the bottom of the post from leaning in (and thus the top from leaning out). The post length below the rim joist will need to be at least 2/3 the length above for this to work. If your deck is closer to the ground, then you can set this post directly into the footing, so long as the footing is deep enough (30" or so ought to do it). Be aware that if you make the structure more rigid using one of these options, the post itself may bow over time due to the weight (rather than simply leaning as it's doing now). In that case, a bigger post may be required, but you'll still need to stiffen up the structure.

A personal preference that may very well spell long term harm for your trees!! A buried root flare is a primary cause of tree failure. It may not be immediate (as a friend says, think in 'tree years', not human years :-)), but it will happen. It is ALWAYS preferable to plant high, never too deeply. If you do not care to see the root flare, just cover it lightly with a coarse mulch.