Our Saguaro is Tilting!

In Journal by Steve Sliwa

2021 brought unusually strong winds and rains to Arizona during the monsoon season.   We received a call from our neighbor who informed us that he though our Giant Saguaro was at risk for falling down.  So we call our General Contractor and he put up safety legs.  You can see it here with a tilt and and safety legs.

Tiliting Giant Saguaro

I hired a contractor to fix this.  Apparently the approach is to install a tension line and tighten it once a month over 15 to 18 months to get it into back to vertical.  I suspect they learned this from orthodontists who use a similar approach for braces.  Here is the installation:

Cactus with it’s brace.

They will come and take a yank or two on the tightener each month.  Hopefully our majestic cactus will standing straight within a year or two.  We estimate it’s about 80 years old.

I’m not too happy with the post the juts into the driveway space though.  I added the yellow, padded covering.  But I hope to borrow a cutting tool to cut it down and make it less of a threat.

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