Hello.
We had a rather bad storm close to my location last night. Although the storm missed us, we got some extremely strong wind. I was just checking on a few plants today and discovered that a young jujube sapling that is approximately six feet tall got slightly blown over. The tree was leaning slightly, and when I inspected it further, I found that some dirt and a few roots around the base of the plant had become slightly dislodged. It turns out that there aren't any roots on the side of the tree that got blown over, and so a strong enough wind can just cause the tree to lean. The plant itself seems to be fine, it still looks quite happy, and the leaves aren't stressed. The only visible thing that the wind did to the plant is that it caused some of the leaves to get wind blown, but that doesn't count as damage. It also didn't lose any of its fruit. This isn't the first time that it got knocked over. I had it in a large pot before I transplanted it into the ground about a year ago, and once it got knocked completely flat after a strong wind. It's only leaning a small bit, and will probably just get straighten itself with a bit of care like it did last time. You can't appreciate the leaning in the pictures, because I staked it before I took pictures of it. I know you aren't supposed to stake trees in most circumstances, but in this case I think it's justified, only until it can stand straight without them. Is the fact that it can get blown over something to worry about? Is it likely to be very damaged from getting blown over this time? Can that fact that it gets blown over be fixed, and is worth fixing? Thank you.

Its appropriate to stake trees until their roots systems are well established. The reasoning behind not staking trees is trunks grow heftier and stronger if they move but roots can't grow if they are moving. The solution is to stake a tree loosely by putting 2 or 3 stakes out a foot and tying ropes between them. Use old pieces of hose to protect the tree trunk from the moving rope. Tie the ropes loosely enough to allow some trunk movement and make the hose loops big enough to allow the trunk to grow. Around here, the farmers literally lean their trees into the wind when they plant - by the time the roots are well established, the trees are standing straight up.

Here is a good photo to show what I'm trying to explain (a picture is still worth a 1000 words )

https://extension.umn.edu/plan...

Lucy68 said: Its appropriate to stake trees until their roots systems are well established. The reasoning behind not staking trees is trunks grow heftier and stronger if they move but roots can't grow if they are moving. The solution is to stake a tree loosely by putting 2 or 3 stakes out a foot and tying ropes between them. Use old pieces of hose to protect the tree trunk from the moving rope. Tie the ropes loosely enough to allow some trunk movement and make the hose loops big enough to allow the trunk to grow. Around here, the farmers literally lean their trees into the wind when they plant - by the time the roots are well established, the trees are standing straight up.

Here is a good photo to show what I'm trying to explain (a picture is still worth a 1000 words )

https://extension.umn.edu/plan...

Thank you. I had it staked in for a few months when I first put it in the ground, but I guess I didn't have them in long enough.

The two drip emitters close to the tree trunk are probably not enough to encourage healthy root development. Trees do better with either a berm at the drip line, or multiple wraps with a soaker hose. Either way should be used to soak the soil all the way around the tree, out to the drip line, and to a depth of at least 2 feet. Deep, wide, infrequent watering works best.
Roots go where the water is.
Take care of the roots and the tree will be much less likely to blow over.

They're micro- sprinklers, not drippers. Mine have a sprinkle width of about 3 ft. As long as Nate is leaving them on long enough for the moisture to reach depth, they work great.

MsDoe said: The two drip emitters close to the tree trunk are probably not enough to encourage healthy root development. Trees do better with either a berm at the drip line, or multiple wraps with a soaker hose. Either way should be used to soak the soil all the way around the tree, out to the drip line, and to a depth of at least 2 feet. Deep, wide, infrequent watering works best.
Roots go where the water is.
Take care of the roots and the tree will be much less likely to blow over.

Thank you for the advice. They are micro sprinklers and cover a fairly wide area. I don't water on any schedule, I just use a moisture meter to test the soil every few days and water when needed. I put the meter in 3 inches into the ground, and only water if it's dry.

Lucy68 said: They're micro- sprinklers, not drippers. Mine have a sprinkle width of about 3 ft. As long as Nate is leaving them on long enough for the moisture to reach depth, they work great.

I water for about 45 minutes when the soil is dry 3 inches into the ground. There is some formula to determine how long to water, but I forgot what it was. The sprinklers seem to work well, and they are on all of the fruit trees in the property.

You could just dig down beside the root ball and see how far down its damp.