I have several trees that I have planted between January and May of this year and all of them are staked. There are two Red Maple varieties ( Karpick and Sun Valley ), one Brandon Elm and one Randy Magnolia. I was wondering how long I should leave the stakes in place on these trees?
The B.C. Landscape Standard suggested between one and two years to be the maximum time to leave tree stakes in place. This gives the tree time to develop a better root structure. If you leave a stake longer than two years, the tree may develop a reliance on the stake for support, instead of developing good trunk taper and roots. The BC Landscape Standard was developed and is used by the BC Society of Landscape Architects and BC Landscape and Nursery Association members. I consulted on an 8 year old strata property, whose landscape installer had used hoses and 10 gauge wire to stake their trees. Well, no-one bothered to remove the stakes and the tree bark grew over the wire and hose bits and enclosed them. The cambium grew around these restrictions and the trees are girdled, but 8 years after planting "most" appear healthy although stunted and the trunks are larger above the wire wrap.
In a heavy wind those trees will likely snap where they grew around the hoses and wires. I've seen it before...
Thanks for the information, I will remove the stakes around the year and a half mark. Cheers, Curtis.
