raising soil level near trees

[Ellen S.]

Hi all

We want to level our backyard but the two trees we have (1 white pine, 1 mulberry, both around 25-30 ft) sit in the lowest corner. We'll probably need to come down a foot on the high end of the yard and come up that same amount on the low end to get it level. We know you can't build up soil level around a trunk so we were thinking of building a little retaining wall around the trees so we don't bury them. If this will work, how far from the trunks should we build the wall? (Do we have to go all the way to the drip line?) If we absolutely have to, we can level the yard to the lowest level, but we'd rather not if we can figure out a way to not hurt the trees.

Thank you for your sage wisdom.

Ellen

 

[Stumper]

Filling over existing roots is big no-no. There are usually many roots beyond the drip-line but restricting your work to outside the drip-line is unlikely to be fatal. Filling inside the dripline is very likely to result in the decline and ultimate death of your trees. Perhaps you can simply create a split level yard-leave the area around the trees alone and level the area beyond the driplines. :angel:

 

[Treeman14]

The mulberry will be more tolerant than the white pine.