Will this tree be OK?

[Johnnymac01]

Hey all.

Nice to be here. :)

 

I'm a fairly new home owner, and have been slowly landscaping my own garden with Australian natives. I gotta admit I've been loving this process and have grown quite attached to my two Snow Gums that are coming along brilliantly.

 

The local Council sent out a message a while back to let them know if we wanted a verge tree, and what sort (from a list), and they would plant it.

I asked for a Smooth Barked Apple Gum, and finally it was planted - but it don't look so good.

 

It has a reddish leaf blister quite badly, and the council tree guy said he would treat it and it would be fine. OK, I'm happy to give that some time and see. 

But the tree also looks like it's had a very hard time in early development, and leans heavily and has no branches/leaves on one side.

 

The council guy said it was unfortunate that it came this way, but "As the tree grows lateral shoot and branch development will occur. Trees are positively phototropic and will grow towards the light, this will result in trunk straightening as the tree matures".

 

What you do all think? Is this tree going to be not only unsightly as it grows larger but also a leaning danger during storms, etc.? I don't like to think ill of this tree, in that it's likely not its fault that it is like this. But I was so looking forward to an evenly balanced and beautiful (and safe) tree out the front!

 

Perhaps important to know is that the camera is pointed directly south-west in the photo. That means the sun rises around left 45 degrees behind cam and sets around right 45 degrees forward of cam. In midday winter it is right 45 degrees behind cam.

 

Any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks heaps.

 

JM

[Khriss]

It can be corrected but that is a poor specimen.  Mulch well and water correctly and prune to the form you would like it to be,  K

[Stubby]

Is it still in that pot ?

[Khriss]

1 hour ago, Stubby said:

Is it still in that pot ?

.... Noticed that. K

[Johnnymac01]

Thanks for your replies, both.

 

I know, it does look like a pot, but it's just a plastic ring the Council used - I assume to keep the mulch in?

 

I'm in half a mind to ask them to replace it, being that I know nothing about pruning trees (and pay my rates, so surely I should get a decent tree!  ).

 

What do you both think? Is it bad enough to justify me asking for a replacement? Will it grow branches on the bare side in the near future?

 

The thought of waiting a few years before seeing what it ends up like, and maybe then having to replace it and start again, is messing with my head....

 

JM

 

[muttley9050]

Unlikely to ever be a prize winner. Why don't you just replace it yourself.

[Vedhoggar]

Embrace diversity 

[josharb87]

If its going to be treated as, and pruned as a street tree, those lower two or more branches to the left will just be pruned off in time to raise the crown/reduce conflict with traffic, pedestrians etc. That lowest one should have been pruned off at time of planting IMO.

 

Whats left looks like it has potential to be reasonably balanced after a few growth seasons.

 

What concerns me is that kink in the stem. But i have zero experience with Gum trees (not too many in Sweden!) so may be "acceptable"???

[Johnnymac01]

Thanks for your help, all.

 

JM

[JAG63]

At the end of the day it's the council's tree on their land and they are responsible for it's management. Any pruning by you could land you with a bill should the council consider you to have damaged the asset in any way.