Don’t know why the photo posts sideways here on the site. It‘s straight when I select it to upload.

Here is another photo.

never heard of stakes killing stuff around them???

and im concerned why a tree in place for multiple years.. has not rooted in ..

what is your native soil ... how did you plant them ... and any other info for us ...

where are you.. though i dont know why that would matter here

ken

I didn’t plant them. There are 8 planted in the same area and the same soil and only one is falling over.

ill stick with improper planting ...

is you soil heavy clay ...???

in the proper season .. you might want to dig it out.. do root surgery.. and replant it properly ... july/august is not that time.. for most the US ... again.. where are you ... now it matters.. if you want to replant ... big city name good enough

ken

What is improper vs proper planting for this type of plant?

Not sure it would be called heavy clay. It is somewhat rocky soil outside Sacramento.

I don‘t have any experience planting or doing anything to the roots. I would probably get a gardener to come in and do it or replace it with a new plant if I can get one of similar size.

What would I instruct the gardener to do?

I have been trying to get a privacy hedge that will grow 10 feet over the fence line for many years and I have to keep starting over and losing years of progress.

Root bound stock is pandemic in the industry, very likely the floppy one has circling roots. The only remedy for that at this point would be a permanent stake.

The browning of foliage visible on this thread might be something like the same browning problem mentioned on another recent thread here, where a mite infestation was mentioned - look at affected plant with a magnifier to see if mites are involved.

And maybe mite damage is what you had before when you thought the stakes were the cause. It depends on what exactly the damage was at that time.

The browning was damage from the original stakes they had when they were first planted and were maybe tied too tightly for too long.

I don’t want a permanent stake especially since these are supposed to grow another 5 or 10 feet taller at maturity. Probably will not survive to full maturity if root bound anyway. So, I will probably just need to get rid of it and start over again. I could just stake it temporarily until late fall if you aren’t supposed to plant these in summer

What‘s the best way to plant these so that the new one will not be root bound and the roots will spread deep and wide to anchor the plant securely without long term use of support stakes?

If I end up having to get rid of all of 8 them and start over from scratch, is there a better plant that can be put it that area that will provide a privacy block along a fence that will grow relatively rapidly to around 20 feet tall and not significantly taller or shorter?

Does anyone have any advice other than a permanent stake?

Can a stake be a permanent solution for a plant that might grow up to 20 feet?

Does having circular root bound roots mean it’s too unhealthy to survive more than few more years?

I was thinking that if I’m going to have to replace it anyway, is there any point in letting it grow in place for another few years if it’s already doomed to die soon after?

If staking can be a permanent fix that isn’t too bad of any eye sore, then I’m willing to do that, but if not, why prolong the inevitable?