By George Weigel/The Patriot-News
Q: I have a couple of hemlocks that are leaning from the wind blowing on them. Can I straighten them by pulling them back and staking them?
A: That's usually pretty futile. If you can even manage to pull them back and stake them sturdily enough without digging into the bark, the trees usually go right back to leaning soon after the stakes are removed.
The younger the trees, the better shot you have at straightening them out. Like people, older ones are no doubt "set in their ways" by now. The fact that they're leaning tells me the root support isn't ideal - most likely from compacted or rocky soil or from direct injury to the roots (i.e. rotting from excess water, vole chewing, disease, etc.)
Windy sites certainly don't help either. Since you can't do much about the soil after the tree's been in the ground awhile, about all you can do is address any of the above attacks you might discover and possibly thin out some of the branches to reduce "wind throw." More open trees will let the wind blow through better instead of taking the full force of the prevailing wind.