I bought a Red Maple last fall and it grew bent at the nursery in an attempt to find more light. The tree is about 7-8' tall and is straight for the bottom 1-2' and then leans about 30 degrees the rest of the way. I planted it so the bottom is straight and the top leans mostly north - I guess hoping it might pull itself straighter that way. It has a 4'' piece of bamboo tied to it in an effort to help it out, but I doubt it's enough.
I don't care if it's perfectly straight, but I would like to try to straighten it and make sure it's healthy. I'm considering adding two stakes to help nudge it straighter, maybe pulling it 5 degrees at first and then tightening it up in 6-8 week intervals for the rest of the year.
Anyway, is there a reasonably successful way to fix this tree? The trunk is maybe 1" thick - though I haven't actually measured.
