Can I save this tree?

[laurence]

Any Arborial experts here? I have two pine trees I'm trying to get established in my back yard, I love the pine forest and since I can't move to the forest, I'm trying to move the forest to me! But one tree has grown at a lean, it hasn't increased, and the top half has grown back in the other direction. I don't mind the character it adds, but I'm worred it will eventually fall over. Is there anything I can do at this point? They are both taller than the two story house now...

 

[REWahoo]

Is there anything I can do at this point?

Yeah. You can move Tori out from under it!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Dang I was ready with the same answer.

Its pretty unlikely to go anywhere. I have three of them that are about 100' tall in the corner of my yard. They put down some serious roots.

You could trim back any large limbs on the side of the lean to lessen the pull in that direction, but its probably just the slope behind it moved down and 'pushed' it at some point. Keep an eye on it and see if it continues to lean further.

 

[laurence]

That's good to hear, yeah, I was going to clip some limbs anyway, before it puts a bunch of effort into them this season. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't being a fool. I hate to cut down trees if I don't have to.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Me too. Back on Cape Cod (sorry...cape cahhhd, where you can use your atm cahhd to buy a nice plate of cahhd and not worry about your limit because you'll never get cowaht) the thin sandy soil and winds let the pines take some really impressive leans. They almost never go over unless a hurricane comes through and a really full one leaning at a 45 degree angle bites it.

Good san diego soil, as long as you dont hit granite 2' down, you should be ok.

By the way, thing falls on your house tomorrow...I never wrote this. I dont know a frickin thing about trees. My kid was whacking at the keyboard and this came out. YMMV. Not applicable in the united states or any other country. Not to be confused with any sort of warranty, implied or ignored. Inapplicable if used with incorrect line voltage. Yada yada yada...

 

[nwsteve]

  Is there anything I can do at this point?  They are both taller than the two story house now...

Laurance
Not sure exactly where you live.  Most states offer great resources from their extension services--usually part of their State University system.  I noticed in your picture you are a slope of some type.  Stability of slope and specie of pine can make a big difference.  Some pine have a great tap root that goes forever if the soil supports--however unstable soil and all bets are off. 
Also lots of cities have an urban forester who you can often are available to answer such questions
Good luck
nwsteve

 

[cube_rat]

This wouldn't be an oak tree, would it? If so, the answer is in the ring around uranus : http://early-retirement.org/forums/index.php?topic=6942.0

 

[wabmester]

No, that's not an Oak.   It's Tori's Pine.   Get it?   Oh, I kill myself sometimes!

Anyway, here's something a tree site says about leaning:

Leans are trees that are not growing in a vertical posture. The lean causes the tree to produce shear and pressure wood. Structurally they are inferior to the normal wood an upright tree produces. While not hazardous when healthy, a leaning tree in decline is dangerous. When rot is introduced, the possibility of windfall increases.

 

[mathjak107]

SAVE A TREE ---EAT A BEAVER

 

[ladelfina]

Keep an eye on the ground on the opposite side of the lean.. if it gets to the point that it starts losing its grip on the terrain you'll see a rise that'll let you know it's ready to let loose. (Of course, if you get sudden major windstorms and the tree is not healthy all bets are off). Seems like it's somewhat protected from the wind, what with the house and the slope, so I'd just continue to ascertain it's healthy and the the ground around it remains flat.

 

[maddythebeagle]

I dont know, but nice lawn.....mine doesnt look that green right now I would just cut it down and plant a new one....

 

[Andre1969]

As long as that pine tree has a good root spread, I think you should be fine. I see pine trees go over all the time, but they're usually the ones that are growing up in forests, or at the edge of forests, where the root ball gets crowded by other trees and really doesn't have a chance to spread out and stabilize. Those tend to get uprooted fairly easily, and once they do they often set in a chain reaction that, over time, takes out whole stands of them.

But anytime I've seen a pine tree that's fairly isolated, they always do fine when it comes to not uprooting in the wind. Now snow can be a different story. Those types of pine trees where they tend to lose the lower branches, and only have branches way up high, sometimes get the tops ripped out of them when the snow weights them down and the wind starts whipping them around.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

If it's an Australian Pine, I'd take it out -- they fall in bad wind. Sanibel was totally planted with these trees until last year. Hurricane came through and most of the yellow pines and native species made it through bruised but standing.

The Australian Pines went down like a house of cards.

 

[KB]

Laurence....

Here's the link for the Master Gardeners in your county (I'm assuming SD county). They should be able to give you more info on that specific pine which may help you decide how to proceed.

http://www.mastergardenerssandiego.org/

They will probably refer you to a certified arborist, someone licensed with the state of CA to look at your specific tree if you decide to pursue it. They may have a list or tell you to look in the phone book. Licensed is the key, or homeowners may not pay if there is a house/tree collision.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

many pines are difficult to move as adults especially because of the tap roots (as opposed to lateral roots) they put down. would be tough to straighten because of a) disturbing the roots which it might not appreciate b) you'd probably need a crane as trees are heavier than they look c) uprooting it would just make it more unstable at least until it settled in & d) then the top would be leaning the wrong way, would correct itself again and would have to be reclassified as a zigzag pine. pines, at least in florida, don't grow so fast so likely by the time it falls, if it falls, you'll be long gone.

 

[laurence]

Thanks for the tips guys, I hope it's stable. The hill is not going anywhere, I put in the retaining wall to gain some additional yard space, but even if I cut into the hill and didn't put up a wall, it wouldn't go anywhere. The soil is not terrible, but full of large rocks/boulders. They carved roads into a side of a hill and put up houses, my hill has been there long before people! The top half of the tree is straight up and down, it corrected itself, so I'm hoping as it grows it's center of gravity will continue to center. The two trees give my yard such a park-like feel, between that and the hill it's shady, private, secluded, yadda yadda, and that comes at a premium in super compacted San Diego suburbs! I'll check out the links, add it to my DW's honeydo list.

 

[TromboneAl]

It may be that that tree is a canary, as in canary in the coal mine, and it is telling you to have a soils person evaluate movement of the hill behind your house. I can't tell how big the hillside is from the picture, so maybe it's not an issue. Do you have the soils test from when you bought the house?

Our last house was in the Oakland Hills, and leaning trees were precursors to mud slide problems. You might be able to prevent problems with minor drainage improvements now.

 

[P.S.]

I love trees and you have a beautiful pine....but I feel obligated to tell you of:

1. parents had a pine tree lined driveway. They all looked healthy, ramrod straight. Probably 40 y old given age of house. One day one fell down across the drive way, lawn. Good thing nothing was in the path of the three story tall tree. The other trees were cut down and hauled away within a week. Parents now refuse to have pine on any property.

2. aunt had a few very tall pines in her yard, also lining driveway. All looked straight, healthy. One day one just took a dive, fortunately just for asphalt.

3. we have lots of very old pine on our property, builder built around trees. Pines are over 4 story tall, some 5 story. A few are close to te house. One looked a liitle crooked towards the top and another split about 2/3 way up. O/w looked healthy. Two tree doctors said looked okay, but can never tell til it falls or you cut it down. Elected to cut down both. The insides didn't look the healthiest.