Hello,

I have the above robinia in my front garden (planted last year) and am
concerned for its welfare. It suffered badly in winds, it had poor roots
when i got it & it has had a branch snapped off. To me,it looks like it is
in too windy a position ( front garden, we live in a housing estate on top
of a hill). My question is, should I leave it to fight on & pull through? -
does someone own one that has grown up in such a situation? Or should I just
cut my loses and find somthing more tolerant of exposure?

Any ideas?


Thanks

H

Hake wrote:
Hello,

I have the above robinia in my front garden (planted last year) and am
concerned for its welfare. It suffered badly in winds, it had poor
roots when i got it & it has had a branch snapped off. To me,it looks
like it is in too windy a position ( front garden, we live in a
housing estate on top of a hill). My question is, should I leave it
to fight on & pull through? - does someone own one that has grown up
in such a situation? Or should I just cut my loses and find somthing
more tolerant of exposure?
Any ideas?


From my experince (one blew over after 5 years or so, the repalcemet's top
snapped off a few years later) cut your losses!

pk

"Hake" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I have the above robinia in my front garden (planted last year) and am
concerned for its welfare. It suffered badly in winds, it had poor roots
when i got it & it has had a branch snapped off. To me,it looks like it is
in too windy a position ( front garden, we live in a housing estate on top
of a hill). My question is, should I leave it to fight on & pull
through? - does someone own one that has grown up in such a situation? Or
should I just cut my loses and find somthing more tolerant of exposure?

Any ideas?


Thanks

H


They are known to be prone to wind damage.

Andy.

On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 17:37:48 GMT
"Hake" wrote:

Hello,

I have the above robinia in my front garden (planted last year) and am
concerned for its welfare. It suffered badly in winds, it had poor roots
when i got it & it has had a branch snapped off. To me,it looks like it is
in too windy a position ( front garden, we live in a housing estate on top
of a hill). My question is, should I leave it to fight on & pull through? -
does someone own one that has grown up in such a situation? Or should I just
cut my loses and find somthing more tolerant of exposure?


Hi H,

As others point out, these have a rep for being easily damaged.

None the less I've got one that has gotten used to a very exposed
situation. At first it lots a lot of branches, including some major
ones (as time went on) but now it seems very solid, and has made
a nice tree about 5/6 m tall. No breakage for maybe 6 or 7 years
now (the saying of which will probably cause major damage this
winter!) and my only complaint is that it doesn't bloom as much
as I'd like. Did so nicely this year, but after a several year break.

Also, it's bent about 15 degrees from the vertical because of the
winds...

I also considered trying something more suitable, but am now glad
I stuck it out. Mine has been in ground perhaps 15 years. Of course
YMMV!

HTH

-E


--
Emery Davis
You can reply to ecom
by removing the well known companies

On 4/12/06 17:37, in article , "Hake"
wrote:

Hello,

I have the above robinia in my front garden (planted last year) and am
concerned for its welfare. It suffered badly in winds, it had poor roots
when i got it & it has had a branch snapped off. To me,it looks like it is
in too windy a position ( front garden, we live in a housing estate on top
of a hill). My question is, should I leave it to fight on & pull through? -
does someone own one that has grown up in such a situation? Or should I just
cut my loses and find somthing more tolerant of exposure?

You could try Gleditsia triacanthos 'Sunburst'. It does the same job as to
colour but is a much less brittle tree and according to my husband, has a
better root system, too. In fact, he says that if anyone brings a tree back
because it can't cope with wind, you can bet it will be a &*^^%$ Robinia! I
mentioned your post to him specifically and he said "Robinias are like
matchsticks". They are famed for doing just as you describe and if we have
customers in the position you also describe, we recommend Gleditsia. It is
best planted where the sun can shine through its leaves and show its real
beauty. (There is also a lovely bronze leaved one but it's less spectacular)
However, only you know JUST how windy your site is and if the wind is a
serious threat to plant life, you might be better going for shrubs,
selecting a Choisya 'Sundance' for that particular colour, perhaps.
If you're new to that house, I'd suggest you look at what your neighbours
have planted and how those trees/shrubs are faring. People often plant
what looks 'pretty' on e.g. a garden programme on tv or in the garden of a
friend who lives in a low lying, sheltered area etc. but it might not suit
your locality.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

Sorry i cant assist with your query,
however to help in another way I suggest you look at this site
http://www.mailmsg.com/SPAM_munging.htm
and alter your email address as it appears in your posting, without that
your inbox will likely be full of unwanted mail (spam) within days.
best wishes
Cineman

"Hake" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I have the above robinia in my front garden (planted last year) and am
concerned for its welfare. It suffered badly in winds, it had poor roots
when i got it & it has had a branch snapped off. To me,it looks like it is
in too windy a position ( front garden, we live in a housing estate on top
of a hill). My question is, should I leave it to fight on & pull
through? - does someone own one that has grown up in such a situation? Or
should I just cut my loses and find somthing more tolerant of exposure?

Any ideas?


Thanks

H

"Hake" wrote in message

I have the above robinia in my front garden (planted last year) and
am
concerned for its welfare. It suffered badly in winds, it had poor
roots
when i got it & it has had a branch snapped off. To me,it looks like
it is
in too windy a position ( front garden, we live in a housing estate
on top
of a hill). My question is, should I leave it to fight on & pull
through? -
does someone own one that has grown up in such a situation? Or
should I just
cut my loses and find somthing more tolerant of exposure?

Robinia pseudoacacia are usually as tough as old boots. Here in
Australia, they are used often in paddocks as animal shelter or in
driveway leading to farmhouses because they don't need much care and
that means that they don't need much water or after planting care and
can cope with dry conditions and scorching sun and wind.

However having said that, yours sounds like it has had a nasty start
in life so I'd give it a bit of TLC for a while to see if it would
come good before ripping it out. Give it some P or K (whichever one
it is that promotes root growth - sorry but can never remember which
of those it is). I'd also give it some seaweed emulsion on a 3 weekly
basis (only one watering can full if it's a small plant) and I'd give
it some protection from the wind for a while (I'd use the filtering
effects of what is called 'shadecloth' here, but I don't know if you
have that in the UK). I'd also stake it loosely - ie, use 2 stakes,
one either side and do a doulbe figure of 8 tie around the plant to
each stake so that the plant is not itself tied but the stakes give
support so that the plant can move a bit (movement strengthens roots,
but too much isn't good)

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 4/12/06 17:37, in article , "Hake"
wrote:

Hello,

I have the above robinia in my front garden (planted last year) and am
concerned for its welfare. It suffered badly in winds, it had poor roots
when i got it & it has had a branch snapped off. To me,it looks like it
is
in too windy a position ( front garden, we live in a housing estate on
top
of a hill). My question is, should I leave it to fight on & pull
through? -
does someone own one that has grown up in such a situation? Or should I
just
cut my loses and find somthing more tolerant of exposure?

You could try Gleditsia triacanthos 'Sunburst'. It does the same job as
to
colour but is a much less brittle tree and according to my husband, has a
better root system, too. In fact, he says that if anyone brings a tree
back
because it can't cope with wind, you can bet it will be a &*^^%$ Robinia!
I
mentioned your post to him specifically and he said "Robinias are like
matchsticks". They are famed for doing just as you describe and if we
have
customers in the position you also describe, we recommend Gleditsia. It
is
best planted where the sun can shine through its leaves and show its real
beauty. (There is also a lovely bronze leaved one but it's less
spectacular)
However, only you know JUST how windy your site is and if the wind is a
serious threat to plant life, you might be better going for shrubs,
selecting a Choisya 'Sundance' for that particular colour, perhaps.
If you're new to that house, I'd suggest you look at what your neighbours
have planted and how those trees/shrubs are faring. People often plant
what looks 'pretty' on e.g. a garden programme on tv or in the garden of a
friend who lives in a low lying, sheltered area etc. but it might not suit
your locality.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/


I will have a look at the Gleditsia if this one really gives up - se what
spring brings is probably best for now (Am allreaddy looking forward to
spring!). THe reason I got it was beacuse it was cheap and where I used to
work (NT garden) we had very old specimin which I really liked - though it
rained limbs in winter :-)!. If I do decide to scrap it, I will findout if
it I can take a cutting of it, I think it would do better if it was sown &
not disturbed rather than being moved about when it should be putting out
its roots.

Thanks everyone for the advice,

H

Good advice.
Farm1 wrote:
"Hake" wrote in message

I have the above robinia in my front garden (planted last year) and
am
concerned for its welfare. It suffered badly in winds, it had poor
roots
when i got it & it has had a branch snapped off. To me,it looks like
it is
in too windy a position ( front garden, we live in a housing estate
on top
of a hill). My question is, should I leave it to fight on & pull
through? -
does someone own one that has grown up in such a situation? Or
should I just
cut my loses and find somthing more tolerant of exposure?

Robinia pseudoacacia are usually as tough as old boots. Here in
Australia, they are used often in paddocks as animal shelter or in
driveway leading to farmhouses because they don't need much care and
that means that they don't need much water or after planting care and
can cope with dry conditions and scorching sun and wind.

However having said that, yours sounds like it has had a nasty start
in life so I'd give it a bit of TLC for a while to see if it would
come good before ripping it out. Give it some P or K (whichever one
it is that promotes root growth - sorry but can never remember which
of those it is). I'd also give it some seaweed emulsion on a 3 weekly
basis (only one watering can full if it's a small plant) and I'd give
it some protection from the wind for a while (I'd use the filtering
effects of what is called 'shadecloth' here, but I don't know if you
have that in the UK). I'd also stake it loosely - ie, use 2 stakes,
one either side and do a doulbe figure of 8 tie around the plant to
each stake so that the plant is not itself tied but the stakes give
support so that the plant can move a bit (movement strengthens roots,
but too much isn't good)