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Perennials Fruit & Orchards Trees

Tree farm forgot a training stake and trunk is enveloping it

last year

Hi I just had a landscaping company buy and plant a 30 gallon Mexican Sycamore tree. After they were done, I noticed this white stick barely sticking out of the trunk and after further analysis, I'm guessing it was a fiberglass type of stick that maybe the growers had used to train this tree when it was a sapling to grow vertically straight and they may have forgotten to remove it. I cant get a grip on it to try to pull it out without sticking something to wedge it out which would damage the trunk.

Will the tree trunk grow around/absorb this stick with no problems or will there always be an unsightly "wedge" in this trunk area that will grow larger as the trunk gets larger. OR the life/health of the tree be cut shorter and I should press the landscaping company to remove and replace this tree.

Tree is currently 3 inches diameter trunk and the stuck stake is .5 inches.

Comments (4)

indianagardengirl
last year
As big a concern as the stake is what appears to be a girdling root on the right side at the base. I would have them replace the tree.
woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
last year
It wouldn’t worry me too much to have woody growth engulf a support stake BUT what I see would worry me because it looks like the the trunk was bent enough to break the stake - and the stake split the trunk so you now have an open wound in the trunk. Trying to remove the stake would increase the damage. I think sycamores are prone to various fungal disease and an open wound might make this tree more at risk of having/getting a disease. If what indianagardengirl sees is really a girdling root, that’s two strikes against this tree… At the very least the company that planted it should be notified that it is damaged and that you would expect it to be replaced if it deteriorates. If you suspect the company might not be in business in the longterm, I’d want them to replace it NOW.
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
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Since it’s only just been planted, I’d ask for a replacement immediately, rather than wait and see if there are problems down the line.
Anthony Nguyen
Original Author
last year
Thank you for your advice everyone! I dug deeper to see if I could access the stake from below the soil surface and that's when I also noticed the girdling root on the right and thought hmm that doesn't look good for the long term health of tree.

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