Don't Slouch, Tree.

12-8-11 SHORT HILLS: The sycamore tree, damaged by TS Irene, that I wrote about in September was never removed by the power line people. Even though damaged by the storm, pushed about 20° to the north, it kept its leaves through the rest of the season and shed them in normal fashion in October. The tree seemed to be healthy even if tilted. I decided to see if it could be saved.

I used a ‘come-along’ to pull it back to vertical, anchoring the lines to a sturdy beech that was in the plane of the tilt. The tool is a crank with a big mechanical advantage to pull heavy stuff, like trees. After I straightened it up, I set three anchors in the ground on the south side of the tree and tied lines to them from about ten feet up the trunk. It is once again upright.

The big question is whether or not the root system was too damaged by the manipulation to function. I’ll try to remember to mention it in the spring.


Lazy Tree.

Now standing at attention.