When a tree is leaning...

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

...will it 'counter' the leaning by growing more heavily on the other side? Just curious, really...but I've got a big one (big!) that leans pretty good and would cause a great inconvenience should it fall. Tree has never had any maintenance, but it's time. Is it safe to assume that a tree guy will know how much to cut from which areas? I don't want to cause any problems....

KC

[Donnie Raines]

Something tells me that will not compensate for the leaning. It would be like tieing a knot in the chord of a clock that runs fast....it aint going to slow it down.

Then again...I have noe idea... :cool:

[Dennis Peacock]

Gee KC....

When I read the title to the thread? The first thing that came to mind was: It's resting because it's tired.! :rolleyes: :)

[Jim Becker]

Any growth will be relative to sunlight, not the leaning. In fact, many trees that "lean" are merely seeking out the light when they are not getting enough due to other trees, etc.

[Ian Barley]

I would guess that it depends why it is leaning. If it is a natural way of the tree to exploit its environment over time, then I would not be worried. Like Jim says, light might be one reason or wind another. In this instance the growth mechanisms in the tree have had time to deal with the imbalance.

If it is leaning bacause of a sudden event, a collision, undercut of the roots etc.. then it needs to be either rebalanced, supported or removed. Get a respectable arboriculturalist (tree surgeon - but its one of the big words that I really like!) to check it out.

[Chris Padilla]

KC,

I have a 250-year old Valley oak tree in my backyard that has a very good lean in it. In fact, a lot of the trees in my neighborhood curiously lean the same way. I suspect that it is from the prevailing winds that caused this tree to lean and perhaps a flood or two in the area did something. There are some even older oaks that are perfectly plumb so I suspect a one-time event leaned the younger ones.

However, the trunk is so large that I have worries it is going anywhere and it also, at least, leans away from the house. It'll take my fence out no sweat. Some very large limbs were trimmed off of it many, many years ago. I suspect they were done because they were over the house and the previous owner was rightly concerned.

Now these limbs were over the house and the tree naturally leans away from the house so a lot of "counter-balanced" weight was removed. That, as I said, was many, many years ago (maybe 10-15). I don't think the tree cared too much nor did it miss those limbs.

So, I think that the tree will grow however it will grow. I think you'll notice that trees growing on steep declines always grow straight and plumb for the most part so they certainly "read" gravity as they grow!

I say if it concerns you to let the side away from the lean get some heavier growth on it and lighten up the other side. In the end, the arborist knows best. I bet it depends heavily on the tree species.

[David Wilson]

I agree with Jim about the tree seeking sunlight. I would recomend rotating the tree every few days. LOL

[russ bransford]

I agree with Becker. It's not going, but it's trying to 'leave' in that direction.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

Hmmm. This is one of two trees (oak) maybe 35' apart, both get full sun after maybe 10:00 am. The 'leaner' is the smaller of the two, so maybe it had to fight the other one early on. Like Chris, if this one falls, it'll fall away from the house...but when it does it'll take two fences out and block driveway access for two houses. I hate mending fence, and I hate cutting up broken trees...and especially when I have to do it right now. I guess I'll just not worry about it until it happens...if it happens.

Thanks for the comments...even the silly ones. :D

[Pat Monahan]

KC
From what I have seen, trees lean to seek sunlight or lean/twist from wind. For example, white pine in northern Ontario have tops and upper branches that point in the same direction as the prevailing wind. Other species in the same area may not show any effect from wind. Just an observation. As far as seeking sunlight, the overgrown hedge/trees that were in my back yard is a good example. My neighbour told me they were Chinese elm, but the bark was different than examples I found online. Apparently they were planted about 1973 along my back fence and spaced about four feet apart, and were never trimmed. As much as I wanted to keep them, there were more dead areas and the ones leaning convinced me the time had come to make firewood. One tree in particular scared me. It came out of the ground about five degrees off vertical and grew in an arc so the top was almost parallel to the ground. No real problem, except that the overall length of the tree was about 65 feet and I had 45 feet from the base of the tree to the addition on the back of my house:eek: ... so I used scaffolding. ( I did call around to rent a cherry picker...I just needed to rent it, not buy the darn thing...) I cut a notch on the side toward the house making multiple passes to make the cut wider in case the tree sagged and bound the saw, but that didn't happen. When I cut the backside, the saw got through the bark and less than one-quarter of an inch into the wood when it came down. There was a tremendous amount of tension in the convex side of the tree.
I don't mean to ramble on, but my point is that after taking those eleven trees down, there didn't seem to be any natural counterbalance in the trees, and the branches were looking for sunlight. Where branches intertwined with their neighbours, they grew in the strangest shapes and I can only guess it was to get sunlight.
HTH
Pat

[Donnie Raines]

Hmmm. This is one of two trees (oak) maybe 35' apart, both get full sun after maybe 10:00 am. The 'leaner' is the smaller of the two, so maybe it had to fight the other one early on. Like Chris, if this one falls, it'll fall away from the house...but when it does it'll take two fences out and block driveway access for two houses. I hate mending fence, and I hate cutting up broken trees...and especially when I have to do it right now. I guess I'll just not worry about it until it happens...if it happens.

Thanks for the comments...even the silly ones. :D

Hey I met up with Tom Skaggs this past Friday. He stated that he has been trying to tempt you over to the Central.... :D

[Lee Schierer]

It is quite common for trees growing on a hillside to have a noticeable curvature near the base particularly in areas where the snow fall is significant even though the tree itself is pretty much vertical.

Leaning trees are usually the result of poor root propigation or grip on the up wind side of the tree. Trees blown over or caused to lean by the wind do not straighten up much with added years of growth, although the new growth will tend to grow straight up.