add more pix.. by replying ot your own post ..

i am going to mull this for a bit.. but i think you are thinking about digging on the wrong side..

think about which side the hurricane broke the roots on ... and that would be the side away from the lean ...??? .. i might be thinking you dig on this side.. undercut a bit.. and let it flop back straight leaving the intact roots.. intact ...

more pix please

you would need only two stakes on favoring the prevailing winds if any ... and probably not on the side the roots remain intact ...

ken

Close up looking at tree leaning away. I was thinking digging down on this side. I was also thinking a stake on this side for each trunk.

Here's another from that same perspective

Probably not the case here, but would have been pushed in two directions if the eye passed over. We had this happen in Houston to our ~12ft developer planted trees: leading side pushed them over to the west and trailing side left them leaning to the east. Made it easy for a friend to pull them out for transplanting to his country lot. They were Arizona ash that had been in the ground for 3 or 4 years, so would have been a pain to dig out otherwise. I know at least one of them survived the root damage and move. Was actually glad to be rid of them.

This post was edited by bostedo on Thu, Dec 5, 13 at 9:58

In this picture I think I would dig and stake on the right side of the tree. I'm just not sure if I should also stake the left side and if so I guess loosely so that it can support if needed but not pull the tree in that direction. 90% of the wind this time of year is coming from the north (right to left in this picture) and these hollies grow pretty quick here so I think by the time the wind switches direction it will be established enough to remove.

And one with the tree leaning toward me. I can easily get more if it would help. It's in a line of about 20 of them so if this doesn't get done right with the highest probability for success it's gonna be quite a problem finding one to match the others! I've got a decent sized budget to work with but I would hate to spend that much of it on one tree!!! Thanks for your help guys

Bostedo, I think this was during Isaac that just sat here and rained so my guess that it got soaked and just leaned over. Like I said though that does tend to push the root ball up on one side and this isn't evident here. That however doesn't mean that these guys didn't just go in and "smooth" it out in all their infinite wisdom lol. Long story short I don't believe the trunks have split at all and the tree seems healthy enough to handle a little trauma.

Moisture does make a big difference, especially with the coastal clay. It's surprising how far they can lean before the roots actually bulge or pop out of the ground on the windward side. Had several plants leaning in our fairly new development, but only saw roots on the few that fell all the way over. Believe it was Alicia, which didn't dump the kind of water Issac brought, but our soil still became pretty saturated. Figured it was all the large poorly planted developer trees rolling around on their root-bound balls.

Could also try soaking the root area over several days and pulling it back with a pulley cable - possibly in combination with some digging.