Installing tree stakes - calling all you landscape gardeners

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alicat

Legendary Member
Location
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I am installing two tree stakes to support a tree that is already in place so I don't want to damage the roots if possible. The stakes are 7' long and 2" in diameter.

I have normal width spades, trowels etc and a wooden camping mallet and a 50 cm platform to stand on.

I bought a 4" diameter post hole auger but I fear the hole will be too big and I still need to pound the stakes in once the hole has been dug.

I am thinking I need to soak the ground then use a sledge hammer or club hammer with a bit of heft and as as long a handle as poss. If sledge then quite light because I am not that strong (middle-aged female). The nursery suggested I get someone to help; however I don't really have anyone I can call on.

I am thinking of getting one of these:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/magnusson-carbon-steel-sledge-hammer-7lb/1424v

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Roughneck-...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=COex7rCt6dsCFU6PGwodJM4P0A

Would either do the trick and am I on the right lines? Calling @Heltor Chasca

All tips/advice gratefully welcome.
 

Levo-Lon

Guru
You normally drive them in with a post hammer or a sledge etc.
If the ground is very hard send a pilot hole down with a spike to start the hole.
Id not worry about the roots as is wont damage the tree.
Set them away from the tree and use either a wood cross member or long straps.
 
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alicat

alicat

Legendary Member
Location
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Yep, they told me to use a cross member and insert a bung between the tree and the cross piece. I think that's wise because the stakes will be long.

Mainly interested in whether I need the lightest weight sledge so I can wield it properly.
 

Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
Hello!

I presume you are doing an ‘H’ support.

Rather than a sledge, get a lump hammer. It is safer, easier and will get you the same result. You also are less likely to split the stakes.

Also rather than the auger, make a ‘pilot’ hole with a wrecking bar if you can get hold of one. They look like a 5-6’ long hexagonal pole, about 1” in diameter. One end is normally pencil shaped, the other chisel. Make the hole nice and straight down with the pencil end and then drive in the stakes with the lump hammer.

Is that clear as mud?

I would do it for you if geography allowed.
 
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alicat

alicat

Legendary Member
Location
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Thanks very much, @meta lon and @Heltor Chasca. That has given me the confidence to get on with it. ^_^

I will get a wrecking bar. We were using one on a conservation working holiday and it looked useful but I didn't know what is was called.

It would be great to have your help Heltor but I think you are too far away.
 
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alicat

alicat

Legendary Member
Location
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Very tempted; however I am a fair distance from a tool hire shop and I don't want the time pressure and to make two round trips.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
[QUOTE 5287345, member: 9609"]Old half shafts .[/QUOTE]

I was once in a Morris Minor pick-up which had a snapped half-shaft.

Amusing experience in that it 'drove' as normal, engine revved, clutch worked, gears changed, and the speedo operated - it did everything it should apart from move forward.

Surprising how fast a no-load Minor could get to 60mph.
 
Post hammers are the easiest option for driving in posts. They are easy for one person operate. Instead of having to be above the post and swinging a hammer down on it, you just put the post hammer over the post, lift it up a bit and then let gravity do the job. If you have a bit of muscle you can add a bit of extra force.
 

Dave 123

Legendary Member
@alicat can we have a pic of the offending tree?

I'm going to bore you with a few stories...

When I was a lad I was taught to have the post parallel to the trunk, maybe about 3/4" away from trunk. Sometimes roots are broken. No tree I ever planted in this way have died to my knowledge.

I've used the methods stated above, using H frames, using 4 guy ropes tied 6' up the trunk and secured in the ground 6' away from the tree. They all lived.

There are all sorts of trains of thought on how to stake a tree.

We used to own some land in Devon. We bought some 2-3yo trees and we were planting them around the lake. I had a couple left to do but I'd kind of run out of room so I heeled them in (shallow temporary hole, cover tree roots in soil).
I never did do anything with them, but the trees eventually righted themselves and made good specimens with little help from me.

After 30+ years in horticulture I'm more inclined to ignore the conventions.

Moral of the story- if the tree wants to live it'll live regardless of a stick.
 
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alicat

alicat

Legendary Member
Location
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Hi @Dave 123

I am sure you are right, the tree will survive regardless. However the amelancier is the only tree in my front garden and I want it to look as handsome as possible. I was concerned because it was growing quite tall and whippy and after three years the roots were still rocking in the ground.

Last week I went back to Bluebell arboretum in Smisby, Leics and they advised me to take 2' off the top and stake it better. The stakes that I have put in look a bit over the top but they said they are old fashioned about stakes and they are getting lots of reports of broken trees now staking is less in favour than it used to be.

Here are before and after pictures as well as a picture of the tree in flower in April. I blagged an offcut for the cross member from Travis Perkins in Lichfield and bought a chisel wrecking bar and a club hammer. I also sacrificed an inner tube :ohmy: for the tie. I soaked the ground and chose a new spot for one of the stakes when I hit some drains. I did saw 6" off the top of the stakes because they were bumping up against the branches. It's all functional and I hope will only be in place for another couple of years while the tree fattens out a bit.

Thank you everyone for all your help and for dissuading me from buying a sledgehammer. I doubt very much that I could have wielded it at the same time as holding the stake!
 

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