Many years ago, Henry Arnold, FASLA, described to me a row of trees near his office that all broke at the same place in a strong wind. He stopped to investigate the unusual occurrence and found the guy wires used to stake the tree embedded in the trunk of each tree at the point where it had snapped off. It's a familiar sight—a tree planted three or four years ago, still staked in place. The ties meant to keep the tree growing straight have deformed it—maybe even strangled it. But despite the potential for catastrophic failure, most tree planting specifications automatically require contractors to stabilize newly planted trees. This may be done with traditional stakes, guy wires, or underground systems that anchor the root ball. Landscape architects will often try to design staking systems that are more secure or less visible. But we are not giving enough thought to how these systems affect the trees, the benefits of tree stabilization, and the potential consequences of each system.
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