Is it actually leaning because the roots are not anchoring it in the ground? Is the soil to saturated from recent storm that it can't support plant? If so stake and pull conifer back to vertical and compact soil lightly.

My other thought is it is reaching for sun light and growing toward it. This conifer needs 6-8 hours of full sun a day. The area I am looking at appears to be in filtered sunlight.

More information regarding the micro climate it is growing in would be beneficial.

Dave

was it potted.. or ball and burlap..

did you bare root it.. and do any type of root surgery???

3 years ago.. has it basically doubled in size.. if i count whorls properly???

have you been hyper fertilizing it.. within the definition of any fertilizer on a conifer is hyper.. lol ..

my guess ... potted.. severely root bound.. could barely hold itself upright before excessive growth .... and in too much shade ...

now.. what to do.. i dont know

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: i am wondering about the ID .... looks like a cembra or thunber.. but i dont know ...

Honestly don't remember if it was B&B or potted. I think potted, but not sure. It has doubled in size or so. I cut whatever roots were encircling, but didn't do pruning or anything more extensive. No fertilizer; pine bark mulch in past years for entire garden. Of course it's possible roots on right side (in pic) haven't held as much as one would hope.

It's possible recent rains caused soil to compact more on one side, but we've had heavy rains since it was planted. I stepped around it and soil didn't seem collapsed or roots to be pulling up. And the lean didn't start happening just in last two weeks.

Light is a bit odd there. Midday it gets full sun (pic is more or less looking south--the building is direct south). It might be a stretch to get 8, but almost certainly 6 (this was at 8:00a this morning) early morning and late afternoon gets light from different angles as it cuts through trees in area. Relatively sheltered from wind, ground is flat, and soil is pretty good quality and well drained.

How does the trunk look as it comes out of the ground? If it's straight up there, then it's likely reachining for sun. If it leans there, it's likely in the roots.

tj

May not be the issue here but many grafted Pines like 'Thunderhead' grow rather irregular. Usually a fat awkward tree with a crooked leader.

The one I just got leans as well. Its straight as the trunk comes out of the ground though.

All Japanese black pines of any height seen here have a lean. Other than that, pretty much all grafted conifers seen in outlets here are stuck on badly pot bound stocks.

tj - it does look like the trunk is coming out of the ground at a bit of an angle, or at least angles close to the ground (I'll give it a closer inspection when I'm not in my suit for work).

So two questions:
1) Should I bother doing anything about it (given the subsequent posts about common leaning in black pines)?
2) If so, what should I do? I could possibly dig out under the low side, push in some additional dirt, and then stake it straight. But I might do more damage than good, since it would require pulling up a good amount of roots.

Same 'Thunderhead" with two different views.

Growing on the lean but looking fairly vertical in growth.

I would leave yours as is to sort itself out.

Dave

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