If I plant a White Oak on one end of my house and a Silver Maple on the other end, in 30 years, what will my yard look like from the roots? There may be no grass in my yard at all because of the shade, but under the White Oak there will be no surface roots and under the Maple there will be nothing but roots. I've seen several responses here about Maple roots growing on the surface because of poor or compacted soil. That is simply wrong. Maples have a "Flat root system" and will grow on the surfce in absolutey perfect soil conditions. White Oaks have a "Tap root system" and I have never seen them throw surface roots no matter how poor the soil. According to the Iowa State University Extension Service there are 3 types of root systems:
1. Tap root (hickory, walnut, butternut, white oak, hornbeam)
2. Heart root (red oak, honey locust, basswood, sycamore, pines)
3. Flat root (birch, fir, spruce, sugar maple, cottonwood, silver maple)
If you put enough top soil on top of maple roots to cover them it will not harm the tree, but in a few years they will be pushing through again.
As little as 3 inches of fill on a White Oak can kill it, if soil conditions are poor. I once saw 3 Sycamore trees that had been back filled 10 to 15 feet and it didn't fase them. A retaining wall had been built down hill and back filled some 20 years before I saw them. It was interesting to see Sycamores so big with their limbs so close to the ground.
If a HO has a maturing Maple that is starting to throw surface roots, telling them to aerate is a disservice and a waist of money. It will not make the roots go back down. The only solutions to the root problem with Maples is to continually cover them and live with it, or remove the tree and start over with a different type of tree. Waiting for your thoughts, Joe.
1. Tap root (hickory, walnut, butternut, white oak, hornbeam)
2. Heart root (red oak, honey locust, basswood, sycamore, pines)
3. Flat root (birch, fir, spruce, sugar maple, cottonwood, silver maple)
If you put enough top soil on top of maple roots to cover them it will not harm the tree, but in a few years they will be pushing through again.
As little as 3 inches of fill on a White Oak can kill it, if soil conditions are poor. I once saw 3 Sycamore trees that had been back filled 10 to 15 feet and it didn't fase them. A retaining wall had been built down hill and back filled some 20 years before I saw them. It was interesting to see Sycamores so big with their limbs so close to the ground.
If a HO has a maturing Maple that is starting to throw surface roots, telling them to aerate is a disservice and a waist of money. It will not make the roots go back down. The only solutions to the root problem with Maples is to continually cover them and live with it, or remove the tree and start over with a different type of tree. Waiting for your thoughts, Joe.
