The answer is one year. I know what you’re thinking, how could that possibly be the right answer? Well here’s how we get there.
Perhaps you noticed through out your life that newly planted trees always seemed to have a stake with some type of wrap around the stem. Whether in a park, backyard, or development there’s a practical reason for it. Whenever you transplant a tree into a new setting, like a hamster in a new cage it’s going to need time to adjust. Trees take longer than hamsters to adjust to their new surroundings, a tree is going to need a year.
One years time is a rather conservative prescription and let’s understand why. Your new tree is going to need time to adjust to its new surroundings; its whole life has changed. From the new wind patterns and soil texture, those roots like a hamster in a new cage are going to need to feel things out. I think the real meat and potatoes of the argument lies in the fact that every year a tree produces another “ring”
A trees ring, are those little circles you counted when you were a kid to determine how old a tree was. I say “was” because to count those rings, the tree has been cut down. One years worth of growth produces the freshest and largest wood around the entire tree. This wood, now built with its new stresswood and farther reaching root system is now at the perfect time to take life by the horns.
Tree advice:
The downside of staking a tree for too long is that it becomes coddled. If it is not properly tested to endure some harsh winds, like the ones we get here in the Buffalo springtime. They lack the stimulation for the roots to grow past its hole site and for the proper stresswood to develop. One must only fertilize their new tree until a year has passed.