I am guessing this is moss. Does this hurt the tree in anyway to have it growing on the trunk?
Also, Is it to late to get this tree growing straight? This is now I bought it. It straights up at the top and I don't think it is terrible. My father inlaw just mentioned it to me yesteday as something I should do, but I think it is to late.

No need to worry. Unless there is a mat of moss that holds moisture there should be no danger. If you leave those suckers your tree will be a big bush by fall and you will never notice the original trunk was crooked.

I have noticed the when a tree sits in the path of a water sprinkler it will start to show a shade of green, moss as you put it.

I have an in-ground sprinkler as do the people next door.
They have large tree in the center of their front yard and it shows the shade of green.

I also have a nice sized Crab Apple in my front lawn and it has it.

Are you spraying the entire tree with city water?

I THINK it has to do with the chlorine from the city water.

Personally, I would not worry about it

I usually only water at the base. I have only had the tree about a year and with all the rain I haven't watered that much.
Hey, Brent the sucker thing brings up another question. Suckers come up from the ground? Would it be a sucker if it is a small branch above ground, but at the base of the tree?

Moss usually grows in lesser direct sun exposed  places....

Yeah, it gets sun from about 1230 on. I think it might be going away since the sun and heat kicked up. I just want to make sure there is nothomg to worry about

When people protect there tree for winter by burying, most of the time they dig from one side and bend it to ground on the other side. If you want to make your father-in-law happy by straightening your tree then when fall comes and the tree is dormant, dig in a shovel on the bent side a foot away from the trunk and straighten up the tree to the other side (instead of bending to bury) and put a wedge of soil in the opening caused by straitening (bend a little bit extra since the tree may tend to bend back a bit). That should do it.

That looks like algae to me and it will grow in damp areas.  It will not harm your tree.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

Those pictures I posted are maybe a week or so old. I took a look at the trees today. With the weather we are having here the last few days being ver hot and sunny. It looks like it is going away.

I sometimes get that on some of my trees too during rainy/damp periods. I have even see it appear on ripening figs in late fall.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus 

Do you guys think if I put a stake next to the tree and tie it to pull it straight it would grow straight after a while or is it to late? Should I stop being crazy about this?

I'd stop being crazy.  I have a similar issue with a "crooked" tree.  I just gave up. 

I have an issue with an in-ground tree where I planted it at the slightest angle.  Because of the way it branched out, the tree has pitched heavily in one direction and is now laying at a 30º angle to the ground.  Believe me, your little curve is nothing compared to that.  ;)

Hi 71GTO,

In short no its not to late.

H E double hockey sticks - with my crooked nose that tree looks straight to me!  The algae isn't going away, just going dormant.  Next time lots of rain for a period of time - it'll green up again.  As I'm just a newbie with figs and only have one "for sure" living tree, I won't know for certain whether it would affect a fig or not.  I would doubt that it would - practically all my trees and woody plants have the algae, well and including the front awning, the brick in some places, the dog house, a retired bee hive, deck rails, etc......   Lots of shade, lots of winter and spring rain and dampness, lots of summer humidity, and so many trees don't have the air circulation that more open places have.  In fact part of my yard is in so much shade and clayey soil,  much of the green "grass" in the spring is moss.  I've thought about doing a moss garden, but the hot dry summers and fall would cause me to have to irrigate more than I would want to pay for. 

A sucker is a bud at the base of the trunk or on the roots that seems to explode with vigor, you will notice that those suckers will put on much more growth than buds at the top of the tree and attain a greater thickness more quickly, if they get light. The ones that are shaded won't grow much and maybe they are branches? Suckers grow like rocket ships, at least that is my understanding.

Are they bad to leave on? My intial reaction would be that is just more realestate  to grow figs on, but I'm probably wrong.

I pull suckers that are on the interior or backside of the bush's shade canopy early in the season, these will never produce good fruit and decrease airflow. But leaving the vigorous ones is good, the fig will spread wider. If you want to make a ground-layer in a few weeks pull one down into a trench, fill and put a rock overtop, then dig next spring. I don't think leaving all of your's would hurt because there is plenty of sun for them, figure out what you want to do with them later on.

Hmmpf--I'm glad someone is getting rain!

That tree doesn't look so crooked.  What I've been doing with crooked trees is getting those green stakes from HD and I put them into the soil next to the trees and then I makes strips out of old T-shirts and use them to pull the trunks up more straight.  You can train the trunk bit by bit and the T-shirt is soft and pliable and it doesn't tend to bite into the bark.

Those green stakes are in different lengths and thicknesses and I really like them.

noss

Thanks for all the help guys.