My little ginkgo is whippy, growing fast, and bending. How can I get it to grow straight?

[JEG in Raleigh]

I have a little ginkgo that we planted 2 years ago. It is growing fast and is now almost 10' tall. But the base of the trunk is only 1.50" in diameter and the tree is bending significantly as it continues to grow. The top-most part of the new growth is easily at a 45-degree bend and sagging towards a 90-degree bend. I don't know what to do about it. I've been searching the web for advice and one person mentioned that their 10' tall ginkgo had a trunk diameter of 3" while mine is only 1.50". Everything I read says not to stake the tree.....and the trunk is growing straight for the first 3' or so until the weight of the upper part of the tree causes it to bend. I'm afraid to ask this but....should I top it (yikes!)? And if so, at what point? Any advice would be most appreciated. I've attached pictures. Thanks.

 

[Raintree]

It appears your tree is growing in full sun, so I'm guessing it's not a phototropic issue.
Too much nitrogen can produce excess growth that could add to the lean. I live in a high wind area, newly planted trees require support until establishment. If you can straighten with one support pulling against the lean I would consider this option.

 

[JEG in Raleigh]

It appears your tree is growing in full sun, so I'm guessing it's not a phototropic issue.
Too much nitrogen can produce excess growth that could add to the lean. I live in a high wind area, newly planted trees require support until establishment. If you can straighten with one support pulling against the lean I would consider this option.

Thank you. Please see the attached photos. In hunting for a solution I came across a recommendation for this device, the Tree Trainer. I don't know if it's still made or not and I don't think that specific device in the photo projects far enough out from the trunk to provide the leverage I would need for my tree. I found a couple of complaints from years ago that said the thing spun in the wind, but I am very capable of fabricating things like this and my solution to the spinning-in-the-wind problem would be to put 2 long stakes in the ground, one on either side of the horizontal projecting brace of the device, that would effectively "sandwich" the horizontal projecting brace and prevent it from spinning. The horizontal brace would not be attached to those 2 stakes, but they would confine the brace to prevent it from spinning. Some comments I read about the Tree Trainer pointed out that it is not embedded in the ground and does not constrain the trunk from swaying in the wind, so it does not inhibit the trunk from gaining strength from that natural process. What do you think of something like this?

 

[Seachaser]

Cheap solution is to drive a t post in beside it. Tape a 10-12 foot stake to the t post. Tie it to the stake with flagging tape or grafting tape. Till the base gets large enough. I do that with a lot of my orchard trees.

 

[Raintree]

I'm not familiar with that device. It seems a bit extreme for your simple application. Would prefer to see only one trunk contact point using a single support line. The goal being to straighten the whip while allowing maximum stem movements.

 

[Captain Bruce]

I have a little ginkgo that we planted 2 years ago. It is growing fast and is now almost 10' tall. But the base of the trunk is only 1.50" in diameter and the tree is bending significantly as it continues to grow. The top-most part of the new growth is easily at a 45-degree bend and sagging towards a 90-degree bend. I don't know what to do about it. I've been searching the web for advice and one person mentioned that their 10' tall ginkgo had a trunk diameter of 3" while mine is only 1.50". Everything I read says not to stake the tree.....and the trunk is growing straight for the first 3' or so until the weight of the upper part of the tree causes it to bend. I'm afraid to ask this but....should I top it (yikes!)? And if so, at what point? Any advice would be most appreciated. I've attached pictures. Thanks.

Sould not the leader be snipped to encourage lateral growth?

 

[FrugalFirewoodDad]

Sould not the leader be snipped to encourage lateral growth?

IMO and IME this 100%

Snip it.

 

[JEG in Raleigh]

IMO and IME this 100%

Snip it.

I'll have to dig more into that idea. Everything I've read says not to do it, so I'm wary of that. Thanks for your opinion.

 

[pdqdl]

Do not snip. Listen to experts, ignore <others> when it flies in the face of better advice.

Trees in general get tall and thin when they are grown in unnatural good conditions. This is called getting "leggy". This is common when a nursery tree is transplanted into unnaturally favorable conditions. You have a number of options, and I would suggest you do all.

1. Tie it temporarily with a sturdy bamboo stick stiffening up the bowing sections. Other adequately stiff sticks will be fine, too. Use a degradable twine that won't last longer than a year. Not too tight, either. I just bought a 15' tall skymaster locust tree at the nursery, and it had been spliced up with just that arrangement. I left it that way after planting it. Let that bamboo spline stay in place until the twine begins to rot or the tree is clearly not needing any supplemental stiffening. About a year should do the trick.
2. Do NOT fertilize it. If you have already, then don't do it any more, at least for a couple of years. Probably never again. Do watch for any signs of a nutritional deficiency.
3. Cut back on the watering, if you are doing a any. Watch your tree for any drought stress, but it's been two years, and shouldn't need any watering unless it gets real hot and dry.

It you have already pruned the top off your tree, now you need to retrain a side branch into a new leader by... Yes. Tying it off to a bamboo stick (or push broom handle) to force it into a vertical growth habit. For a year or two. Then you ought to be fine.

 

[JEG in Raleigh]

pdqdl, thank you very much for this information. I have not snipped and I have not fertilized, so I've dodged those bullets. After reading the suggestion of another poster suggesting I try using the "Tree Trainer" device, I read about it and did purchase one.

https://www.amleo.com/tree-trainer-...NVnPNmzmSfiRgrJl0KoMq7J7uGmb8BDBoC0p8QAvD_BwE
We have a lot of deer around our house and in the fall they were damaging some of our trees when they rubbed the velvet off their antlers, so I subsequently installed four 6' t-posts around each tree and stretched welded wire fencing around those posts to keep the deer out. Those t-posts are quite stout (and could be used for tie-off points for staking, if necessary) and with the ginkgo, I've installed the "Tree Trainer" device and then used two elastic rubber straps connected to two t-posts that are then connected to the "Tree Trainer". I've adjusted those rubber straps to keep the "Tree Trainer" from swinging around the trunk of the tree and keep it in the optimal position to straighten the trunk. The elasticity of the straps allows the tree to sway in the wind. But the very top of the tree where the new growth is happening is beginning to bend and maybe I should add the bamboo stake you suggested for the purpose of training the very top of the tree.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

We always used pvc... 1" or 1 1/4". Stab into ground opposite lean, secure with wire at the top of your tposts, and then secure the top with about a 3" diameter loop of stiff wire covered in old garden hose. Between the flex of the pvc and the loop of the wire it allows movement to strengthen tissue and prevents any chance of girdling. Very effective on straightening aspens. And we could make it with what we carried on the truck...

 

[pdqdl]

I don't quite have a picture of how that works. Post a photo?

 

[TheJollyLogger]

First time I have used the draw thingy on my phone, lol. I could blame it on my daughter, but that was all me.

So... points of attachment, pvc in the ground, then 4 wires from the T posts forming a solid attachment at the apex of the bend. Attach the trunk with a 3-4" circle of rigid wire with old garden hose around it to protect the trunk. Up top, same thing, 3-4" rigid wire protected by hose flexing the trunk straight. Adjust all wires as needed to straighten the tree. Between the room in the loopsand the flex in the pvc, the tree will flex and strengthen in the wind, with no chance of girdling or bark damage. Hope that makes sense, easier to do than describe, lol.

 

[pdqdl]

I'd think 3 fence posts and a tripod tie-down method would be easier and just as strong.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Yeah, that was back in the day in the Denver area when we were planting field harvested... or mountain harvested aspen... guys would get a permit and go harvest 12 to 14 foot whips with about an 18" by 10" deep root ball, bring it down from 9'000' elevation to 5'000' elevation on a flatbed trailer with 200 of their closest friends, and we were supposed to plant them in a landscape and warranty them, lol. If I had a 60% survival rate I was happy. But I will say that staking method definitely worked, and made for some beautiful aspen... for the next 10-12 years or so... since aspen aren't native to Denver... oh wait, that's another thread, lol.