Fruit tree blown flat

[ponytug]

Hey folks,

We had a major windstorm recently that blew one of our 15' fruit trees over. The trunk is still ok, but the tree is basically on the ground.

Anyone have advice on how to pull the tree to vertical and how best to stake it once it is there? I was thinking of running a pull rope over an 8x8" post to get lift out of a horizontal pull and then using 3-4' pipes driven in the ground as stakes.

Thanks in advance.

All the best,

Peter

 

[jaxs]

Those kind of jobs demand using what you have and your post should work. You didn't mention varity but most fruit trees are grafted so keep that in mind when pruning. Lots of roots were damaged or lost so I would prune top heavier than past years then nip any buds during growimg season that come out below graft. This is a wag but you probably should irrigate half as often and twice as deep from here on because it sound's like roots were shallow.

 

[ponytug]

It is an avocado, and they are known for shallow roots.

What seems to have happened is that the roots upwind just sheared off underground. I have never seen anything like it. It was the worst windstorm in over a decade.

All the best,

Peter

 

[3Ts]

Another issue with the roots:
I planed 2 oak trees. One was as a seedling and out in the open exposed to the full force of the winds. A few years later, I planted an 8' oak in a 5 gallon pot. Roots were obviously pot bound and I spread them out the best I could. Many years later it had gotten up to 15', the seedling to about 20'. We had a hurricane come thru and take out many trees. The oak seedling did the best, if you looked close you could tell the soil on one side was an inch higher than before the wind. The potted oak was over at 45*. The root system did not fully spread out and the tree was blown over.

 

[Alien]

I heard that Texas gets a lot of wind but it sounds worse than I imagined. We rarely get winds near that but the gum trees may break a big branch off but they break even with no wind. Hope you can save your tree.

 

[tallyho8]

My poor 9 month old Papaya trees were so pretty before the last hurricane hit them a couple of months ago. They had most of the branches blown off and were leaning at 45 degrees. I'm hoping that they can make it through the rest of the winter and recover in spring.

 

[ponytug]

When we had papayas, not here, they always seem pretty resilient to wind, even though the trunks are pathetically weak. They seem to just lose leaves (fronds?) and come back. I admit that we did tend to plant them in places sheltered from direct winds.

All the best,

Peter

 

[jaxs]

My poor 9 month old Papaya trees were so pretty before the last hurricane hit them a couple of months ago. They had most of the branches blown off and were leaning at 45 degrees. I'm hoping that they can make it through the rest of the winter and recover in spring.

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View attachment 684371

Wow,it realy did a number on those trees,I hope you can save them. Look's like the :umbrella: made it through unscathed.

 

[dodge man]

I have had that happen twice, both times I ended up cutting them down. I staked one up like you describe for a year or two, got tired of mowing around it, took the supports down and it blew over again. After the third time I gave up. I would say you can save it but plan on leaving the supports up permanently. I used anchor rods, the kind you screw into the ground and larger ratchet straps.

 

[jaxs]

I have had that happen twice, both times I ended up cutting them down. I staked one up like you describe for a year or two, got tired of mowing around it, took the supports down and it blew over again. After the third time I gave up. I would say you can save it but plan on leaving the supports up permanently. I used anchor rods, the kind you screw into the ground and larger ratchet straps.

It's a good idea to put down mulch to supress weeds and grass out past anchors. That will save mowing and weedeating under and around plus retain moisture for better growth.

 

[rgr33]

I would absolutely love to be able to grow papayas here, but it just isn’t happening outside of a really good greenhouse set up.

Neighbor just down the road is planting olive trees right now though, never thought that was possible in this area.

 

[Alien]

Lots of large olive orchards around my area. It used to be a real fruit bowl here but they used all the water up and pushed the trees and now do veges, potatoes and lucerne. Nearly all the fruit stalls closed down.

 

[ponytug]

I have had that happen twice, both times I ended up cutting them down. I staked one up like you describe for a year or two, got tired of mowing around it, took the supports down and it blew over again. After the third time I gave up. I would say you can save it but plan on leaving the supports up permanently. I used anchor rods, the kind you screw into the ground and larger ratchet straps.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think I can leave supports in place long term. Regardless, I appreciate the cautionary experience, and the details of what you did. I had mentally assumed that it would take many years, like a decade plus, to put down enough new roots before it might be strong enough not to have them.

Perhaps being preemptive with extra bone meal and phosphorus on the "broken" side might help?

All the best,

Peter

 

[dodge man]

I’d say a decade might get it done, I didn’t give it any where that long. One was a Linden tree that was expensive and the other was a pear tree.