You are doing the tree a diservice staking it if it isn't needed, actually. You will get a stronger trunk if you don't stake it. But of course if the tree is tall and whispy, I would loosely stake it, just until it is stable enough not to fall over. The wind will help the trunk get stronger, but of course it needs to get thick enough not to droop and break in the wind. One of the good things about starting out with a smaller specimen vs, a giant transplant from a nursery where all the trees are in a row like army ants. Just my 2cents. Poaky1

Never stake a tree unless there is reason to believe it needs to be staked.

Honestly, I stake trees in part because it makes them less likely to fall victim to a lawnmower or weed whacker.

If these trees are all big enough they won't be confused for weeds, it depends on the wind situation. If none of these trees were blown over by wind during the summer, they should be fine.

A catch-22 is what this is: don't stake a tree unless it needs it............you won't know if it needs it until it, uh..................needed it. We, by which I mean the municipality I happen to work for, plant upwards of one thousand new street trees each year. After some years of hemming and hawing around, we settled on simply staking them all-two T-posts per, religiously removing these stakes after a year. All in all, a pretty good program. We're not unneccesarily weakening these things by over-reliance on staking, just getting them past the hump of being newly planted, ie, no root system to speak of. Seems to be a reasonable compromise.

In other less-windy situations and with small "native restoration"-sized materials, no staking is ever needed, these plants typically going into wind-sheltered areas.

The third situation is vandalism. Not a concern in your yard most likely, try planting trees on streets in run-down neighborhoods. Just the presence of two stakes and accompanying tying material can make the difference between an undamaged tree and one which has been casually banged on with a bat or other mindless activity. It happens.

+oM

IMHO ... staking is to insure that the root mass will not shift .. and that is usually a function of the size above.. versus the soil below ... and that is short term until the roots can do the job ... i usually remove such.. at the end of the second season ....

e.g. in my sand ... and presuming it 3 foot or less ... bare roots ...and a deciduous tree ... by the time i water it deeply in.. the sand creates an almost cement ... [draining mind you] ... soil.. and that tree isnt going anywhere ... ever... and by the time it leafs out late next spring in MI ... it will have grown roots to hold itself there ...

if you complicate all that with bad clay ... not bare rooting [divergent soils]... too big instant gratification ... planting when leafed out.. etc ... then you need to stake it ..

PROTECTING has nothing to do with staking it per se ... in and of itself ... i have often set lets call them 'rods' but they are stakes ... AROUND a plant... to avoid the kids stomping on them when under snow cover.. keeping deer away.. etc ... and even 4 inch black corrugated drain pipe on tree for rabbits ..

in a sense.. you are confusing the word usage ... staking is to hold up a tree.. other uses are protection ... and not really staking ...

ken

Do you ever have snow load or ice load issues? How about high winds?

I find it very helpful to stake newly planted trees loosely to get them thru their first winter at least.

I staked my Golden Raintree for the first 2 years, having just taken off the stake a couple months ago. I didn't actually stake it in the traditional sense; I used plant supports from gardeners.com. Here they are: http://www.gardeners.com/buy/stem-ladder-supports/39-517RS.html?start=24&cgid=FlowerSupports_Cat

Anyway, I live in a somewhat windy area, so staking the tree when it was a baby was the practical thing to do. And I saw it as protecting my investment.

ETA: I also use those supports for my newly planted, skinny sugar maple trees. They easily withstand the wind on their own, but it makes me feel better knowing that in our miserable windy winter that they'll remain upright.

This post was edited by ilovemytrees on Tue, Nov 4, 14 at 7:38

yes.. of course.. there are a multitude of reasons ...

but you dont do it for the heck of it ...

as to winter ice .... as snow is usually irrelevant on a deciduous tree ... i have had more snap at my poor attempt at staking.. as compared to bowing over.. and springing back up.. once the ice fell off ... but again ... my soil didnt make it falling over an issue ...

and.. in my z5 MI .;. the ground freezes solid... so it isnt going to fall over.. it would more likely break ...

my biggest problem.. was usually the second year ... thin wispy trunk .. and the thing leafs out and grow a foot or two .. w/o ever any fert ... and the sailboat sail of leave mass... overwhelms the thin trunk ... and a couple broke at the stake connection ... as i guessed wrong about the placement of such ... i didnt allow the wood to flex .. like a bow ... i created a static point ... such was rejected ...

and that is when i learned.. that when dealing with a thin trunk .... you drive a stake as close to the plant.. and splint it to the trunk to make it stronger .... that i learned not to go for instant gratification..and started buying smaller ... so the trunk would grow in sync with the canopy .... and lo and behold.. found out.. that a smaller transplant will usually outgrow the larger instant gratification plant... go figure ...

ken