Straightening the Tree

Hurricane Irma left our little oak tree bent over.  We had put this tree in just two years ago, replacing a previous small oak tree that had died.  I really didn't want to lose another one.

I contacted the Hillsborough County office of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Service ( http://hillsborough.ifas.ufl.edu/ ) asking for advice on how to straighten a bent over tree. I received a prompt reply with "how to" advice:

Steps for standing up trees that have fallen

1. Keep roots moist.

2. Excavate a hole to accommodate roots.

3. Use sharp tools to make clean cuts on jagged or torn

roots.

4. Pull the tree up as straight as possible, taking care to

not damage the trunk or roots.

5. Fill the hole with soil from the site, but avoid burying

the area where the trunk meets the top main root

6. Irrigate the tree with the same frequency as for newly

planted trees, approximately three times/week for

the first several months. Also, apply water during dry

periods. Do not fertilize for one year.

7. Install staking system. Remove or adjust stakes after

six months to one year.

I had been watering the tree regularly ever since we returned home. 

Inspection showed that the tree itself was not bent.  The root ball was rotated, with the side next to the street raised and the side next to the house depressed.  I dug around the root ball in order to give it space to move back.  But I could not budge it by hand.  

I hooked up the car to the tree with a heavy wire, using a length of hose to prevent the wire from digging into the tree.  In the picture below, the wire is not visible because it is so thin, but the hose is visible.

The car was easily able to pull the tree back to an upright position.

I staked the wire to the ground to prevent the tree from rotating back to the bent position, and added a couple of boards to help prop it up.

I hope I have not damaged the roots too much, and that the tree can survive.  Time will tell.

Folding the Jib

Yesterday I attempted to prepare our sailboat, SeaQL, for hurricane Irma (as best I could.)  I had wrapped the jib sheets around the furled jib to help hold it.  But the sheets only went around the bottom half of the jib.  A neighbor across the dock warned me that 100 mph winds would unwrap the jib and then rip it to shreds.  He advised me to remove the jib from the furling and stash it inside.

With great effort, I removed the jib and basically wadded it up.  There was no way I could fold it neatly on the deck of the boat.  And I could barely lift it after wadding it up.  I put in onto a dock cart and took it to the car and managed to coax it into the back seat.  After two hours of hard work out in the sun I was so exhausted I could hardly walk.  I finished tying down the boat, and started back to Tampa at about 4:30 PM.  It took me an hour and a half to get home.  (Normally a 45 minute drive.)  I suspect that most of the delay was just normal rush hour congestion rather than hurricane traffic.

Today, I drug the jib out of the car and spread it out on the driveway, in an attempt to fold it neatly.  I had no idea how big that jib is until I had it spread out on the driveway.  (It doesn't look that big on the boat!)

Sherry helped with the folding.  I could not have possibly done it alone.

Progress!  Not really professional looking, but better than yesterday.

Final result.  Still a bit of a mess.

I took it into the garage and stashed it on the bottom level of the storage shelves.  If we get water in the garage, the jib should survive it better than most of the stuff stored there.

Unfortunately, the boat is not so secure.  The neighbor across the dock said that the weather forecast was predicting an 11 foot storm surge.  If that happens, there is little chance that the boat will survive. The water would be above the tops of the pilings in the marina.  But I think that prediction was based on the projected path two days ago, when they were expecting Irma to go up the Gulf coast of Florida.  Today the forecast is looking a lot better (for us), with Irma projected to go up the Atlantic coast.  If that projection holds we should get just moderate wind and rain and essentially no storm surge.