Hello everyone!

I've got three fig trees in a bed which was recently plagued by moles. Although the moles are now gone, i noticed about three weeks ago that one of the trees is leaning quite a bit to one side. My theory (and i welcome your corrections if it's wrong) is that the mole burrows near the base of the tree have caused it to lean over to the side of the tunneled soil.

I've got a few questions:

Are the roots likely to be significantly damaged due to the mole activity?

What's the best way to straighten up the tree so it grows straight and strong?

Also, a well-meaning friend muscled the tree so it was straight up and down the other day to show me how i should stake it - his proposed solution. The tree was once difficult to budge, and now it's kind of ... budgeable. Although i know he had the best intentions, i'm now quite worried that his brute force might have further damaged the roots.

Thoughts?

Pictures follow ...

The leaning fig is in the far left of this photo:

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The leaning fig is in the center of this photo:

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Close up of leaning fig:

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Fig base with visible mole hole (there were many more):

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I'm also going to cross post this in the fruit tree forum to get as many eyes on it as possible.

Thanks everyone!

A worried fig grower