Hi, I have a friend in another state that had someone plant 20 or so White Pine that had been B&B handballs, about 3' at the time of planting 2-3 years ago. The person planting them neglected to remove the twine around the trunks and balls when planting. He's now seeing a few start to die from being girdled. Many of the trees have grown so tightly around the string that he can't pull it out no matter how hard he tries. He's now pressuring me to tell him what he should do: cut the twine on both ends, pulling as much as he can and hoping that lack of tension from being cut will allow the tree to grow by virtue of making the string expand as the cambium expands or dig into the trunk, hoping to coax the string out. I'm getting a little hazy on my plant physiology to definitively say that the tree will or won't survive merely cutting the string and being in the middle of the spring landscaping rush, I thought I'd just post the question here and save myself some time trying to figure it out online. So, what do you think? Try to dig it out or cut it and hope for the best? Many thanks, Ernie
