Plants Grow Toward Light

Q. I pulled out my old, bent crepe myrtle and bought a new one from a grower. It's still small, but I noticed the "trunk" is already curving. Is this going to be a problem like the old one? Is there something I should do now, or will it straighten itself out as it grows? When I plant it, should I put the root ball in the ground at an angle so the trunk is pointing more or less straight up?

Pine tree leaning due to shade on its West side from the eucalyptus.

A. As soon as you plant it, the new growth will start straightening (bending toward the light) as it grows. The light will come at it from all different directions than in the nursery. When you plant it, plant it as straight as possible and let the plant figure it what is straight with its new growth. You can help it “straighten out” with pruning. As you guessed, the plant will figure it out as it grows.

Pine tree leaning. What is not known to you is that there was a large tree that burned down (died) last year to the left side of that tree on the other side of the wall. That's why it is leaning.

Leaves and buds are light receptors. The side that is open will "fill in" with new growth as long as the plant gets enough light, water and fertilizer to push this new growth. The top growth from leaves and buds (where it "sees" light which determine where and how stems develop) is what we call "positively geotropic" which means it “grows up”.

Roots are "negatively geotropic" which is a fancy way of saying roots “grow down”. Of course, root growth is encouraged by water, air, and fertilizer. Top growth is encouraged mostly by light but heavily influenced by irrigating and applying fertilizer to push new growth.