How do I tie a plant to a stake without damaging it?

Tying a plant in is a two-minute job that people do slightly wrong for years, and the failure is delayed by a season or two, which is why the connection is rarely made. A stem girdled all the way round by a tie loses everything above it, and it will have looked perfectly healthy right up until it did not.

What you'll need

• Soft, broad tie material — rubber tree ties, soft twine, old tights or purpose-made ties
• A stake sized for the plant
• Scissors

Step by step

1. Put the stake in first, and put it in clear of the roots.Drive it in on the windward side where possible, angled away from the root ball on an established plant, so you are not driving it through the roots you are trying to protect.
2. Size the stake to the job.For a tree, the stake should finish in the lowest third of the stem so the top is free to flex. For a tall herbaceous plant or a climber, the stake finishes just below where you want support and never sticks up above the growing tip to rub it.
3. Make the figure of eight.Pass the tie around the stake, cross the two ends between stake and stem, then take them around the stem and fasten. Seen from above it is a figure of eight with the crossing point in the gap.
4. Leave the stem loop slack.You should be able to get a finger between the tie and the stem. That slack is next season's growth, and it is what stops the tie becoming a constriction.
5. Fasten to the stake, not to the stem.Knot or clip on the stake side so any tightening happens against the stake rather than against living tissue.
6. Use more than one tie on anything tall.Two or three ties spread the load and stop the stem bending at a single point. A single tie on a tall plant creates a hinge exactly where the tie is.
7. Write the check into your year.Twice a season, at minimum, go round every tie in the garden and loosen anything that has become tight. This is the step that actually prevents the damage.

Tips

• Old tights are the classic material and remain one of the best: broad, soft, stretchy and free.
• Rubber tree ties with a buckle and an integral spacer buckle do the figure-of-eight job in one component and are worth it for trees you intend to keep.
• Never use wire, bare string alone, or a cable tie. All three concentrate the load into a narrow line and cut in far sooner than a broad tie would.
• A tie that has already cut in should be removed and replaced immediately. The stem will usually recover if it has not been girdled all the way round.
• For climbers on wires and trellis, the same rule applies — loop loosely and revisit, because a stem tied tight to a wire is girdled just as effectively as one tied to a stake.

Common mistakes

• Tying stem and stake together in one tight loop — The two are in direct contact, so wind grinds the bark off at that point, and the loop cannot expand as the stem thickens. Both failures are avoidable with the crossing.
• Fitting a tie and never looking at it again — Most strangled plants were tied correctly and simply never checked. Stems thicken every season and the tie does not.
• Staking a tree high and rigidly — It stops the stem flexing, so it never thickens or anchors properly, and it puts all the leverage at the tie. Low and single is right for almost every tree.

Questions people ask