bottle brush tree advice needed please

[flatyre]

a customer of mine has a bottle brush tree about five feet high which had blown over in the winter. its at a fifty degree angle at present but seems healthy. She asked me what can be done to straighten it up again, would it damage the root system too much if I pulled it back to ninety degrees and staked it? Would it be better to stake it at its current angle to stop it going further over and straighten it up in winter when its in shut down mode? Could the tree be dug up and moved to a more sheltered spot in winter? Any advice would be welcome as she is very fond of this tree.

[Cheesy pete]

it can always be dug up but moving anything is a danger of losing it

if the root system has moved you should be able to move it back easily and then stake it once corrected .

push at it and see if it moves if you have to undermine it a bit on one side do so as long as most of the roots are good you shouldn't be more than 20 mins work

[skc101fc]

All of the above but prune all round to shorten branches . Aim to reduce the leaf area for this year until streched/broken/comprised fibrous root system has rejuvenated.

[Island Lescure]

I am just curious, why did it blow over in the first place?

Are there girdling roots?

Did the roots tear?

Was the area flooded which could have caused the tree's root system to lose grip under high winds?

Is the soil around the base generally saturated with water?

Were the roots decayed?

How do the roots look now?

Was it planted at the correct depth?

[flatyre]

I am just curious, why did it blow over in the first place?

Are there girdling roots?

Did the roots tear?

Was the area flooded which could have caused the tree's root system to lose grip under high winds?

Is the soil around the base generally saturated with water?

Were the roots decayed?

How do the roots look now?

Was it planted at the correct depth?

 

no idea what the root system is like as I wanted more info before doing anything, its strange though as there is no root plate bulge visible on the ground? its in a small yard in a newish apartment development so the soil is probably rubbish, it was wind that pushed it over. i'll straighten it up as much as I can without putting too much pressure on it the stake it until winter when I can undermine the root plate and get it back to vertical. thanks for the advice guys.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

no idea what the root system is like as I wanted more info before doing anything, its strange though as there is no root plate bulge visible on the ground? its in a small yard in a newish apartment development so the soil is probably rubbish, it was wind that pushed it over. i'll straighten it up as much as I can without putting too much pressure on it the stake it until winter when I can undermine the root plate and get it back to vertical. thanks for the advice guys.

 

Old stock, garden centre, pot bound roots never established anchorage perhaps?