Redwood trees staked for WAY too long

I recently discovered something horrifying with the beatiful redwood trees at my new house...I was having some landscaping done and in the process they removed the undergrowth of junipers that had been growing under the redwoods which allowed me to see the trunks of the redwoods which I couldn't before. Much to my horror, I saw that two of the three trees had stakes next to them and were tied to them with rope of about 1/4" diameter. On one of the trees, you could tell that the trunk diameter was a little smaller right where the rope was, but I was able to cut the rope and it and the stake came free of the tree no problem. On the other one though, it's a bigger tree and so the bark had started to grow around the rope. I cut the rope to detach the stake but didn't try to pull the rope out from the bark because I figured that would hurt the tree more than if I just left it. But I'm not sure that's the right thing to do--should I try to remove the rope even if it damages the bark in the process? Also, what's the long-term prognosis for these trees--since I've now removed the ropes, do you think they'll recover and lead healthy lives?

I'm sure lots of people will have differing opinions, but if the damage won't be severe(the rope being there that long is already kind of severe), I prefer to remove the rope. It might be somewhat risky in the short term, but I feel in the long run it's the better choice. Long term, I don't remember reading any good studies about the long term effects of damage like this, but after seeing enough trees with barbed wire, bolts, parts of hand tools, and other odd things being absorbed (grown over) by the trunks of trees I think there's a good chance the trees will recover just fine. Although I imagine the trees might be a bit more susceptible to wind damage for the next few years. That's unless the rope is cutting into the bark all the way around the trunk, then it might lead to the death of the tree above the rope eventually, but I assume the rope is only cutting into the trunk around about 1/2 the trunk or so.

Fortunately the rope is only cutting into maybe a quarter of the trunk. I'm going to see how much I can get out without doing too much more damage to the tree, hopefully I can get most of it out. I'm not too worried about wind damage now that the stakes are gone--these trees are way, way past the point where a stake would do any good whatsoever (they're ~20 feet tall and have been in the ground I'm guessing since shortly after the house was built in 1980). If wind comes along that is strong enough to knock these guys down, the stakes wouldn't have saved them! It's just a shame the person I bought the house from wasn't a little more knowledgeable about gardening, otherwise maybe the stakes would have been removed 10 or 15 years ago before they did any damage!

When I mentioned wind damage, I was talking about potential weak spots created on the trunks(from the girdling rope), not that the stakes were of any benefit in this regard. But like you said, if they're 26 years old or so, I guess they are still strong enough to cope with any wind storms, even with the weak spots on their trunks.

An update on my redwood...I finally got out there again to try and perform a little surgery and get as much of the rope out as possible...but it turns out that the rope is already mostly embedded in the trunk. Before I had only looked at it from the side where the stake was and it didn't look like the rope was totally embedded in the bark, but when I looked at the other side of the tree, I couldn't see any rope at all because the bark was already covering it. So, without doing major damage to the tree, I'm not going to be able to get the rope out of that half of the tree. Hopefully the tree will be OK, but if not at least it can't fall on the house from where it is, and if it does die it's the middle tree in a group of 3 that are planted fairly close to each other, so it won't be a total landscaping disaster (except for the cost to get someone to haul it out!).

If it was me I'd grab my can of WD40, spray on the rope in the trunk and slowly wiggle it out. I'd also get some bicycle tire inner-tubes, place 3 strong stakes around the tree, gently wrap the tube around the trunk so it is lightly snug and to the post and repeat on the other posts. This gives some flexibility for the tree in wind, provides support above the weak spot while the trunk repairs and the tree gets into its new season of growth. You could probably remove this later this year. Considering we've had so many wind/gust issues this year it might be better to be safe than sorry. I'd also put some slow-release fertilizer around the tree for a speedy recovery.

WD40 is an excellent idea.

I like the WD-40 suggestion, but I think the rope may be to well embedded, I will definitely try that next weekend though and I'll give it some fertilizer too.

I'm not sure about the staking though--the tree is 20+ feet tall so do you think putting stakes in would even do any good? My thought was if the tree decides it wants to fall over there's not much that's going to stop it! Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of the tree, here's a pic that shows the bottom part of it but you can get an idea for how big the tree is. The one with the rope stuck in it is the one on the left

Hey, the owner of the 4x4 behind the tree probably has some WD40! I guess it really depends on how hard you get hit by the winds if this'll make a diff. IMO a Redwood with some exposed trunk is quite attractive. If the rope is deep into the trunk it has created weakness but if it's still within an inch, it should be ok. The foreground looks like a dandy place to put in a large planting. :-)

Yeah, I bet my neighbors do have some WD-40 (they have about 10 other 4x4's, pickups, etc besides the one you see in the pic!) I think I have some too but since I never use it I need to dig through the garage to find it.

And I agree about the large planting--it's actually already there but my more recent pics of the yard don't show the redwoods very well. I am in the middle of a complete re-landscaping project (there used to be grass where you see dirt in that pic), now it's all planted, I just need to get mulch down and put in some crushed gravel for a little seating area in the middle and it'll be done. Here's how it looks now (a little sad without mulch and the plants are all still small, but it'll get there!)

That looks better. Doesn't look like good soil to get started with though. I normally incorporate the mulch on planting - does it work better there to have it ontop? curious.

You're right, we don't have good soil. People here always use mulch on top to keep moisture in better during our very dry summers. Some people do lots of soil amendments too when they're planting and then put mulch on top, but I've never been a big fan of amendments, too much work! I try to grow a lot of natives or other things that will do well in my soil so I don't have to do a lot to it. Especially with larger things like trees and shrubs, I am a big believer in just sticking them right in your native soil, their roots are going to have to grow out into it eventually anyway, and I'd like to encourage them to do that right away. For smaller perennials I'll sometimes amend an area around the plant, and that's what the landscapers did here although you probably can't see that in the picture. Then I use lots of compost tea and John & Bob's soil optimizer, plus the gradual decomposition of the mulch which I will eventually get around to putting down, and this slowly improves the soil. Some people will probably think I'm a gardening heretic for my attitude about amending the soil, but it works for me!

Nothing wrong with doing it that way, especially if it works for you. In a funny way it kinda reminds me of my first day skiing. My mother took me and my sister up to the local mountain. I started crying and in her harsh German accent stated, "You come vis me or you stay until it melts!" or "move it or lose it" kinda thing. I sometimes overpamper plants and it can be the end of them when I go away or we have a drought. I'm sure the Redwood will be fine.

I figured I don't have time to pamper plants, either they like the conditions in my garden and do well for me, or out they go to be replaced by something that does do well. Lucky for me I like CA natives and I also grow a ton of Australian/South African natives and other Mediterranean plants which don't really need a lot of care, if I had different taste in plants then I'd probably have to spend a lot more time on soil prep! If there's a plant that I'm dying to grow but it needs more special treatment than it would get in the garden, I put it in a container.

There are some really nice (unknown) Chilean plants that also thrive in your type of soil/conditions. Check out Ursula's seed offerings & images. Have you ever ordered from Silverhill seed? Some neat stuff there! :-)

I got some seeds from Ursula as part of her pay it forward project, and I saw she has some new ones in her latest ad so I may order some more! And I ordered a bunch of seeds from Silverhill last year--haven't had too much luck with germination on the ones I've tried so far but I have a bunch more to go yet so hopefully my luck will improve! I'm not really the greatest with seed starting, I have fun trying and I've had really good luck with some things, but others even though I follow all the directions about nicking and soaking, etc they still won't germinate for me.

I wouldn't worry about the tree too much, unless the rope is cutting in ALL the way around it shouldn't hurt it. My father and I have tried to kill trees by girdling them (cutting the bark off and a little deeper all the way around) and sometimes they still won't die. I think yours are definitely going to be ok.