Righting Downed Trees, Hardwoods

Our Tree Fell Over, Now What?

One thing you can count on in a hurricane is downed trees.  The category of storm directly relates to the size of the trees on the ground.  The bigger the number, the bigger the trees.  Ian boasted 150 mph sustained winds as a category 4 when it hit us.  Big downed trees were expected.

Now, expecting downed trees and seeing Dawson’s white Hong Kong orchid tree on the ground are not the same thing.  It lives off the corner of our brick patio providing a much needed micro-climate for our Traditional Vegetable and Herb garden.  It was grown from a seed, collected at the hospital, when Dawson was born.  This spring it was a giant snowball of white flowers.  Emotions ran high, but not how you would expect.

Both my mom and I accepted it was gone with a hopeful outlook that the boys could wrangle the thing back upright.  Upright means hope, down means starting from the ground.  So, dead with some hope for resurrection.  Really, we both know it’s a resilient, hearty grower.  The thing is almost invasive, and I have numerous babies growing in pots all over the garden.  It’s rare something is truly lost in Our Garden as we propagate for fun, or to see if we can do it.

Regardless, we are talking an almost 21 year old tree, with major history, saving it is always preferable, and the key is the roots.  Hong Kong orchid trees are hardwoods with massive root systems extending all over the place, down into the aquifer.  Dawson’s tree is no exception, we actually grow the front section of the Traditional Vegetable and Herb garden between the shallow top roots.  They form the beds.

In some cases, you can tell right off if the roots are gone, the tree is in another place, a snapped broken mess.  I would suggest trying to propagate from the trunks at that point, taking trunk sections and growing new roots, but trees will surprise you.  If there are any roots still attached, I would recommend propping those puppies back up and see where you land.  Using some root hormone, fresh nutrient rich soil, and making sure it’s getting watered regularly will go a long way towards recovery.

The Ian Recovery of Dawson’s Tree

The day after the storm, my family kindly came over and helped me chop up the entire canopy from Dawson’s tree.  Bummer.  I tried to focus on what I was doing instead of the deconstruction.  I only snapped at helpful loved ones once or twice, and I do like the smell of freshly cut wood. It was a long day.  

Upright

Sadly, family crew one did not chop enough of the tree trunk off for it to go up.  My son showed up the following day with my oldest brother, Hannah, a Come Along, a jack, and some straps, family crew two.  They topped it off.  The 14’ version was too heavy.  We had to settle for 7’ of trunk.  Ouch.  It certainly isn’t the ground.

This was not their first tree wrangling, or mine.  It is best, for everyone, if I am NOT in the garden for the feat.  There are no pictures of the event, Hannah was helping.  Their focus is getting the tree up, not the plants around it.  I can’t differentiate.  Since I appreciate the assist and my help in the upping event is minimal, no one is unhappy I’m not there.

If you are unfamiliar with a Come Along, this is basically a hand jack, industrial sized, you crank to tighten a strap attached to it.  The upping goes something like this:  You take a strap and wrap it around a VERY stable counterbalance.  In this case, it was the Cage Match across the entire yard.  Yup, there were enough straps to run it from Dawson’s Tree all the way around the Cage Match and back to the tree to attach the other end to the Come Along.

Crank, crank, crank, tighten the strap.  If you have a superman son, him he-manning it up a bit helps in the progression. Crank, crank, crank, insert the jack.  Little by little, with all the cranking and jacking, it rights up into place.

Now, I am going to mention here there are lots of ways to right a tree.  I myself have used one of my jeeps and a strap.  I’ve personally seen it done with a cherry picker, a bulldozer, a truck, a winch, and a group of men with a rope that I can think of off the top of my head.  It’s not uncommon here.  The trick is to make sure whatever rope, strap, and other equipment is not only in good working order, but that it is rated to hold the weight you’re lifting.  The truck tree upping ended with the strap snapping and taking out the back window of the truck.     

Stabilizing

Unfortunately, I have found whatever tree you right is never quite back to its original spot.  There is usually a lean due to resettled roots you don’t want to break forcing back.  While you want to keep cranking, the tree will pretty much let you know when it’s done.  Then, you have to stabilize it.  That is really the hard part, don’t forget we got hit with tropical storm Nicole about a month after Ian.  It has to be stable. 

They used three 4” branches about 1½’-2’ in length at the base as they were raising it to keep it stable.  We have lots of branches.  Because it was extra stabilization and they didn’t want to risk making it any less stable by removing them, they left them in place.  My mom hopes they will graph to the tree and develop into roots.

Normally, three 2x4s are attached directly to a freshly planted tree, in a tripod configuration, to keep them stable until they’re fully rooted.  Because Dawson’s tree was heavily leaning to one side, they only had to attach 2 on each of the leaning sides to fully stabilize it.  We were lucky we had a couple on hand as getting any building materials the week after the storm is laughable.  Family crew two came in and claimed the work was not warrantied, but I’ve knocked the boards several times, and it’s pretty darn stable.

Fill

It was my turn next.  The righted tree had a giant hole around the tap root so large it appears to be a trunk extending all the way down into the ground.  I hit the entire hole with powdered root hormone and packed in 12 cubic feet of natural compost to just fill the hole.  

Packing is important, here.  It isn’t enough to fill the hole, you need to make sure there are no air pockets.  This is much more difficult with roots than it sounds.  They’re bendy and have an unpredictable shape.  Air can lead to rot.  That’s bad.  You want to pack the living tar out of it.  

I added another 16 cubic feet of natural compost to form a stable base around the entire tree.  It now has a mound I hope will keep off any standing water in the future and provide a new foundation for an even tougher root system.

The existing roots across the entire front of the Traditional Vegetable and Herb garden had to be packed with garden compost.  In some places, the roots were up off the ground 10-12”.  

Reburying them took days, and I lost count of the cart-fulls.  I used almost all the garden compost I had on hand.  The weed barrier mat had to be pulled up, everything covered in soil, packed, more soil, more packing and the mat reinstalled.  More dirt and a new layer of matting is definitely in the area’s near future, but it was enough to make the veggies and herbs happy.  Since there is still a huge ‘to do’ list, I’ll probably tackle the rest with the February planting.  

The word I would use for whole process is tedious, but it’s never a bad idea to repack all your beds with massive amounts of fresh compost even if it has to be done in installments.  The fall veggies look fantastic.  I hope they produce.

New Growth

Then, the moment of truth for Dawson’s righted tree came, new growth.  We were so excited, real possible tangible hope.  And, Oh My, does this thing want its branches back.  Hong Kong’s send out all these little branches with tons of leaves a couple of times a year.  I would describe them as bushy or shaggy trees.    

My mom and I have been discussing its future shape.  Soon, we will need to trim it back to keep the stag-horn fern alive, and we don’t want low branches.  While it isn’t out of the babying phase, yet, it does seem to be progressing nicely, and it is definitely still living.

Ian Recovery Progression

For at least the last decade, Our Garden has enjoyed the beauty and shade of Dawson’s Hong Kong Orchid tree.  Ian took it down.  With the restoration complete, we are missing its lovely volume, but it’s still alive.  Over the next couple of years, we’ll all be surprised at how fast it grows back.