Very informative article Dave, thanks for posting

I very rarely stake my trees. If I do it is only for a couple of weeks to a month until the soil is good and firm against the tree. I've never had any problems with them blowing over because of not staking.

oh the children.. the children.. they need to be held up forever.. lol

one thing the article did not address.. or did so superficially.. was that if properly planted.. and suitable size.. THEY DONT NEED STAKING...

IMHO .... the only trees that need staking are overly large transplants ... simply the height to root mass ratio, one might say ... a sailboat sail.. with little to hold them stable until it can grow the requisite roots ...

or planting in bad clay .. where the root mass gets flooded.. and losses integrity .. leading to movement ...

most things simply do not need it .. though of course, i dont buy large stock ...

ken