I have five or six friut that I aquired on a property a year ago. All but one (cherry) were leaning and had to be staked to keep them upright. The roots don't seem to be anchored well, and there is considerable sway. The trees are about 8 years old and were planted there about 5 years ago. Are they worth hanging on to? What caused this in the first place? Can anything be done to correct this? (I know they were purchased from a reputable nursery) Please help! thanks!
a picture might speak a thousand here but without one the common things I would suggest are: planted too deeply and the grafted root system has been superceded by the "top" portion of the tree with a secondary root system that is not well suited to support the tree. much too frequent shallow waterings leaving a shallow root system. potential root disease or decay issue (poor drainage a major factor) lack of soil over hardpan I heard the phrase once, "once a prop, always a prop" meaning once you let the tree rely on you for support, you must continue to provide it. A tree gains reaction wood after being exposed to forces that attempt to displace the tree, this reaction wood is what helps the tree to gain girth and strength in the trunk and stem. with the forces being negated by the support (man made) structure this reaction wood will be poorly formed and generally not capable of supporting the tree, especially a fruit tree that has seasonal fruit (lots of weight) load.
Fully dwarfing rootstocks not vigorous enough to keep up with growth of crown. As this gets bigger, weight of it pulls tree over. Many fruit trees sold to homeowners now are fully dwarfed, may need to be supplied with permanent support.
Thanks for your replies gentlemen. But the question remains, "What now?" Should I replace them and at least I know they'll be planted/maintained correctly? If it is root rot, how can I tell and will this not be transported to the replacement tree? Will I be delaying the inevitable since they obviously lack vigour to ward off other pests/disease? Your opinions would be much appreciated.
You are going to want to show us a few photos of your trees. You may only need to stake the trees securely and perhaps severely prune them to force new root growth. In sandy soils even with good root systems it does not take much for a fruit tree to flop over. I've seen 30 year old Peaches do it in a 25 MPH wind grown in an Atwater sand. Generally but not always fruit trees planted on heavy soils will not lodge nearly as easily but are more prone to Armillaria root rot than the same trees are grown in a sandy soil or a sandy loam. Dwarfing rootstock can indeed take a long while to become established in the ground and some of the dwarfing rootstocks really never do develop well in cooler and wet climates as opposed to warm and dry areas. Jim
If they lack vigor, you need to discover why. Inquire locally for best results, you may even have to get on-site opinions. If, on the other hand, the main problem is that they are leaning over, staking is the answer.
