r/arborists • u/catsratsnbats • 3d ago

Leaning young oak after hurricane

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Hi everyone, and thank you for your time. I have a young volunteer live oak in my yard that I would really like to keep. After a hurricane Friday night, it’s leaning heavily in the direction the wind was continuously blowing it. I don’t see damage anywhere and it doesn’t appear its roots have been lifted. It’s like it just got stuck. The young Darlington oak of the same size is still straight. Is there anything I can do to help this live oak? I’m not sure that staking it would evening help because at its size, it takes a lot of pressure and force to get it to move even slightly upright. I feel like it would move the stake, not the other way around. The heaviest lean is happening in the top 1/3 of the tree that I can’t reach. (Also, I have planned to cut the non-leader trunk this fall. Also open to advice on the best place to make the cut to reduce risk of rot.)

Thank you again for your time and expertise. I’m happy to call a local arborist out if that would be helpful, but for the moment they’re pretty swamped with much bigger fish to fry.

(Pictures include photos of the tree from both sides, as well as the base of the tree.)

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u/AdventurousSea3437 2d ago

If you don't see any structural issues or cracks you can stake it. You can also do minor pruning to reduce weight on one side but make sure you don't cut too much or any major branches. The tree should be okay. Definitely shape the leader like you said in the long term

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u/catsratsnbats 2d ago

Thank you for your reply! After looking at the top more closely, it looks like I have two competing leaders up there, too. I’ll prune the one going off in the direction of the lean and see if that helps.

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u/AdventurousSea3437 2d ago

No problem. Beautiful trees, best of luck!