On to the pin oak...

[Grenfell]

After admiring the perfect form of the root flare on my mature silver maple, I looked over at my mature pin oak (about 16" dbh, 50' tall) and I notice there isn't much of a root flare. There's a bit, but not very prominent. It seems to be a very healthy tree otherwise.

So I excavated around the base gently and guess what? A bunch of soon-to-girdle adventitious roots.

Luckily, the roots were all relatively small and I was able to get rid of them easily. Some had already started to wrap the trunk. I've now dug down about 4" around the base and exposed as much of the flare as I think is necessary. I can't see any more girdling roots.

1) Should I stop here?

Then there is the remaining soil around the tree, which is higher than the now exposed flare. I may not be able to make it perfect, but I can decrease the slope gently. I started to rake out the soil and noticed quite a few small, fibrous roots.

2) Should I just gently slope the remaining soil away or leave it so as not to disturb the roots? If I leave it as is, water will pool around the base, so I suppose some sculpting is in order?

3) There seems to be one largish adventitous root protruding from the back (see the base_back.jpg file). It is heading out away from the tree, so I think I will leave it?

Thanks again for your help. This is the last of the problem trees on my property. I had no idea what I had inherited.

P.S. Not sure if I can pay back all this advice, but if you guys ever need any PC advice/troubleshooting, I'm your man.

 

[treeseer]

2) Should I just gently slope the remaining soil away or leave it so as not to disturb the roots? If I leave it as is, water will pool around the base, so I suppose some sculpting is in order?

3) There seems to be one largish adventitous root protruding from the back (see the base_back.jpg file). It is heading out away from the tree, so I think I will leave it? if you guys ever need any PC advice/troubleshooting, I'm your man.

Congratulations on an excellent RCE Root Collar Excavation!
Yes, you may want to sculpt a swale to guide water away from the stem. a few more smaller roots lost to this effor should not hurt the tree.
Yes leave the radially-oriented root.
Yes give me some PC help; do you make house calls to NC?

 

[Grenfell]

Congratulations on an excellent RCE Root Collar Excavation!

Thanks! Somehow the tree looks 'right' now with a nice, mighty base to sit on.

Yes give me some PC help; do you make house calls to NC?

Well, I go on an annual surfing trip to Hatteras. You could always bring your PC to the beach for a tune up...

 

[Grenfell]

Done!

I cleaned up the grade and put down a bit of mulch. I was able to even out the grade pretty well and as I was cleaning the trunk, I found a couple more girdling roots (see pictures) so I removed them as well. Luckily, the girdling roots had not cut into the main roots yet, they're intact.

It's interesting, in the 'scars_full.jpg' image, you can see the radial root that emerged from between the two main roots and the girdling scars. It's as if the tree detected that the main roots were too deep and it sent out a new root to compensate. This new root send out the girdling shoots.

I'm happy I caught this now, and the advice I got from you guys has been invaluable. Thanks again!

 

[treeseer]

It's interesting, in the 'scars_full.jpg' image, you can see the radial root that emerged from between the two main roots and the girdling scars. It's as if the tree detected that the main roots were too deep and it sent out a new root to compensate. This new root send out the girdling shoots.

Trees are so amazing. So you had to snip lateral roots off the big adventitious root becasue they were girdling, and now off it grows.