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It’s the time of year, as they say, when spring is in the air. Mower engines rattle off their winter slumber. The garden store feels like Macy’s at Christmastime. Gardeners plot their strategies. And spring acts like therapy for this office-bound professional. Seeding grass and spreading mulch enliven me, but ‘tis the grand oaks and aspiring saplings I love the most. Trees: The lions of the vegetative kingdom.
I can’t recollect when I discovered my inner-arborist. But, I quickly learned that planting a tree is not easy work, especially in Colorado’s clay soil. Some experts (or at least a few “old wives”) instruct us to stake our new trees into the ground, protecting them from strong winds and the dangerous world beyond the warm embrace of the nursery. But if you want a strong tree, you’re wise to ignore that advice, no matter the depth of your sympathies.

Source: TLCforTrees.info


In her dissident research paper, The Myth of Staking, Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott took on powerbrokers and entrenched tree stake interest groups, saying:

Tree staking is done with the best of intentions but without regard to long-term tree health. Rather than helping a tree develop root and trunk growth that allow it to stand independently, improper tree staking replaces a supportive trunk and root system.  This artificial support causes the tree to put its resources into growing taller but not growing wider.  When the stakes are removed (if they ever are), the lack of trunk and root development makes these trees prime candidates for breakage or blow-down.

While Chalker-Scott allows staking in some instances—namely for exceptionally top-heavy trees—she never permits it for longer than one growing season. Wait longer, and any short-term benefits will be awash in long-term issues because of the stunted root system. Fine Gardener, the moral authority on all flora matters, goes even farther and warns that, “Staking a tree…can do more harm than good.”
When the wind howls and the rain falls, the young tree’s roots react and push deeper into the soil. The winds make it stronger. In contrast, staked trees do not fully mature, despite their stability. What saplings need more than protection is the opportunity to grow. To stand on their own roots. Provide your tree that chance along with healthy doses of sunshine and water and watch it thrive.
If our Creator embedded the anatomy and ability in trees to flourish, certainly He has created all people with the innate capacity to do the same. It prompts us to examine how we stake versus how we water. With our kids, friends, needy neighbors and the poor around the world: Are we staking or watering? The costs are too high to avoid the question. Let’s call a stake a stake and get into the business of helping people grow as their Creator designed.