JEasley
New Member
I need some help determining what to do with my ~40 y/o red maple with some pretty gnarly girdled roots.
I bought my house a little over a year ago and there’s a beautiful red maple in the front yard. Unfortunately, it had a mulch volcano around the trunk and when I pulled it back, I ran into what looks like an entire lifetime of girdling roots left unchecked. The canopy isn’t as full as it should be and had just 2 or 3 small branches at the top without leaves. It generally looks like the leaves are a bit sad.
I’ve started removing a lot of the fine roots and pencil diameter roots to get a better look at the larger girdled roots below. I’m perfectly capable of removing the < 2 inch diameter roots by myself, but was trying to gain an understanding of how many roots beyond the superficial layers need to be removed as well and if I should get professional assistance for that.
I’m guessing I need to either rent or pay for some air spading to get a deeper look under ground too.
These roots are so intertwined I can’t tell if I’m even seeing any “real” roots or just decades old girdles roots that have gotten 6in thick and fused with each other.
Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi you’re my only hope…..
I bought my house a little over a year ago and there’s a beautiful red maple in the front yard. Unfortunately, it had a mulch volcano around the trunk and when I pulled it back, I ran into what looks like an entire lifetime of girdling roots left unchecked. The canopy isn’t as full as it should be and had just 2 or 3 small branches at the top without leaves. It generally looks like the leaves are a bit sad.
I’ve started removing a lot of the fine roots and pencil diameter roots to get a better look at the larger girdled roots below. I’m perfectly capable of removing the < 2 inch diameter roots by myself, but was trying to gain an understanding of how many roots beyond the superficial layers need to be removed as well and if I should get professional assistance for that.
I’m guessing I need to either rent or pay for some air spading to get a deeper look under ground too.
These roots are so intertwined I can’t tell if I’m even seeing any “real” roots or just decades old girdles roots that have gotten 6in thick and fused with each other.
Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi you’re my only hope…..