Stakes for Young Trees

AleoN

Can anyone tell me where to get good (cheap) stakes for young trees (Tralee or Killarney area). The trees are about 3.5 to 4 feet high. Also what would you recommend , a single stake or two smaller stakes with a length of timber joining them?
I would be looking for about 30 stakes.

Thanks in advance

AleoN

FarmerBrown

Ring Standish Sawmills, they can direct you to there nearest stockist in your area, got a wide range of stakes off them a few years ago.

mister gullible

Sounds like your trees are pretty small. they might not need staking at all if firmly planted. If you do stake, best practice is to put in a stake of no more than about 18 inches. This is sufficient to anchor the roots and encourages the main stem to strenghten. Tall stakes tend to loosen due to leverage and wind action and are then less than useless.
Its a good idea to dig a nice planting hole and incorporate some compost. It's also quite a good idea (if using bare rooted trees) to drive in the stake before you put the tree in place and backfill.
Best of luck with them.

yop

What would you do then if you have 8-10ft trees? Would you use the standard 4ft stakes and tie them with something like bicycle tubes?

mister gullible

I'd still recommend using short stakes for 8ft trees just use slighly heavier ones and drive them well in leaving about 18 inches above ground level. I don't know what would be the cheapest type of ties, I tend to use shop bought ones although I did use nylon stockings to tie fruit trees! Whatever you use be careful that as the tree grows the ties don't bite into the bark.

mister gullible

See also advice below from Northern Ireland Conservation Volunteer site:

Where a stake is necessary (normally if the tree is more than 1.5m tall), stake the tree sufficiently to anchor the root ball in the ground, but leave enough stem free to sway in the wind. The stake should extend to no higher than a third of the height of the stem. Tie the tree with a single tie, preferably of a flexible material which allows some movement. Old inner tubes, tights and other materials are suitable though not particularly sightly. A pad between the stake and the tree is always necessary.
Provided that the tree has been well looked after, sufficient root growth should have occurred to anchor the tree two years after planting, at which time the stake should be removed.

AleoN

Thanks for the help guys.

Rang Standish Sawmills today and they supply 4 Ft. stakes for €1.20 plus VAT which sounds reasonable. Will probably go with these. Does anyone know how far are they from Roscrea?

AleoN