Nate Nagel wrote:

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

--
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Trees will grow and adapt to obstacles (like growing around fences), but
it's slow. If you put in a good ground anchor like a screw in one and do
the turnbuckle thing tightening it a bit each month it should straighten
out over time. Watering the ground heavily might also help you adjust
the root positioning a bit each time.

From the sound of it your previous homeowner should have been living in
a mud hut instead. Perhaps they are now...