on 5/4/2008 10:34 AM Nate Nagel said the following:
Doug Miller wrote:
In article , Nate Nagel
wrote:

Hi all,

I've got a redbud tree (at least that's what I've been told it is)
in my front yard. Unfortunately it is growing at an angle, hanging
over the street and actually around a streetlight. It is a very
pretty tree but looks like hell. I think it did this because it was
competing with an oversized elderberry bush that was left untrimmed
by the previous owners.


[snip amusing tale of much wasted time and effort]

ROTFLMAO! It took ten years for the tree to grow that way, and you
think you're going to pull it straight, just like that, in half an
hour! Ain't gonna happen.

You've already received two good suggestions: prune it to the shape
you want, or cut it down and replace it. If, however, you're still
determined to pull it straight, the only way you have any hope of
doing it is a little bit at a time. Sink a stout post in the ground
about as far away from the tree as the tree is tall. Attach a cable
with a turnbuckle as far up the trunk of the tree as you can, and
just above ground level on the post. Pull the tree as far as you can
toward the post. Then leave it alone for at least a month. Repeat as
needed. It will take years.


I guess I just wasn't anticipating that I would be completely unable
to at least put a little tension on it and pull it at least an inch or
two. I understand that it takes a long time to do something like this
and I can deal with that. I don't want to cut down and start over as
there aren't a whole lot of "nice" trees in the front yard - I've got
a paw paw tree on the other side and a couple of evergreens, that's
about it. It looks like there were some nicer trees at one time, I
took an unidentified stump out yesterday and there's still the remains
of a huge cherry to be dealt with, but they are not there anymore. I
guess a redbud must be a pretty hard, dense wood? (I don't know, I'm
far from a tree expert.)

Pruning is not an option as the angle starts close above the ground;
if I cut off everything that was growing where I didn't want it to,
there wouldn't be any tree left at all. So I guess I am stuck with
either your method or else as others have suggested digging under the
roots on the street side and hoping I don't kill the damn thing.

I may try to take some pics later so you can see what I'm talking about.

why does it seem like the biggest part of owning a home is rectifying
all the stupid crap that the previous owners did? I think they meant
well but a lot of the green leafy stuff seems to have been planted
simply wherever without any thought on what it would encroach on as it
grew or what it'd be competing with.

nate


You might try digging a bowl shaped hole around the truck and then flood
it so that the water gets down to the roots. Straightening might be
easier with the roots in mud, rather than dry dirt. If you have a
pressure washer, digging and flooding can be done in one operation.

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
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