posted 3 years ago
Just based on what appears to be a bridge in the photo, but not knowing where you are, it looks like the tree is leaning toward the clearing/sun. That is common for most plants. I have seen 80yr old, healthy walnuts with very complex branching trunk networks that could have started with a similar shape. It may shorten the ultimate lifespan of a tree, but walnuts seem to root deeply. In my opinions staking will never make a tree longer lived, as it won’t get as strong.
This is all just my opinion based on a flawed memory