Advice needed...

B

bcollier18

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I have purchased a home on the Coastal waters in VA. I have several pine trees that the roots are exposed creating a real saftey hazard in the yard. I under stand that grinding roots can be detrimental to a trees life span. However I am wondering if it is any different with a pine tree since they typically have a large Tap Root. this hopefully should also stabilize the tree in high winds??

any ideas about root grinding? covering with Soil? etc

TIA
 
Biology and botany books keep perpetuating the myth of carrot like roots growing out of the bottom of tree trunks

Take a look at an excavation site for buildings, roads or along waterways. This vertical view of the root zone is what you'll be cutting away. Another good view is after windstorms or lot clearing with heavy machinery. You won't see any tree carrots

The root system of most trees resembles a wine glass. How stable would a wine glass be with a bite out of it's base?

So...no root cutting is advised. Top dressing with a very airy/permeable soil might help your situation let the turf grow through the top dressing. Better yet. Get rid of the turf and add a large mulch ring around the trees
 
It sounds as though your trees are growing above either a very high water table, or a relatively shallow layer of compacted soil through which their roots won't grow. Tree roots require oxygen, which is typically not available in great quantity, in soils which are routinely inundated with water. If your trees have only a very shallow layer of arable soil in which to grow, they'll put their roots at or near the surface, in order to survive.

The analogy of the wine goblet to the basic architecture of a tree, which Tom suggested works well. Goblet globe=canopy, goblet stem=trunk, goblet cantilevered base=supporting root plate. I'd suggest though, placing that wine goblet centered on a dinner plate to further represent both the shallow depth of the absorptive roots of the tree, which take up oxygen and water, and how they radiate outward many times the diameter of the canopy.
 
They used to even perpetuate the myth that a tree's root system stopped at the edge of the canopy. For most trees, that is also total bull. @cerviarborist's dinner plate analogy is a good one. Some trees handle whacking a few big roots off with grace... almost indifference. Elms come to mind, especially. But most trees aren't noxious weeds, like elms, and can suffer catastrophic damage from doing that. I'd think twice about grinding or cutting them out, and consider the advice to mulch them, instead.

I once built a grade level deck over an area that had exposed roots (by grade level, I mean by building code standards, under 2' high). This allowed me to use good organic mulch over them before I decked the framework, and everyone was happy. I mention this only to point out that sometimes there are other options you may not have considered.
 
thanks for all the prompt replies, this basically parrots what i have been reading. I was hoping for someone to say go ahead grind the tops of and cover em. I knew that would be to easy.

My delima is that it is nearly 1/3 acre area with about 15 large pines. I like the trees and they have been limbed and look healthy.

I would love to grow a well manicured lawn, with several pine straw bed around the trees. but the roots protrude all over the yard.

I would agree that the salt water table is very close to the surface and i am sure there is compact oil as well.
 
I wouldn't so much cover them with sand, as I would slope it along the sides of the roots, just enough to so that the top of the root doesn't sit quite so proud above grade. Just enough to reduce the trip hazard.

I'd also think about buying playground sand, or failing that, rinse the salt out of the sand you're going to get at your local beach, before you place it beneath your pines.
 
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