Big tree, no space

[Jehinten]

Not the biggest Tulip Poplar around here by far, but a decent sized one with no room for the roots. Road on one side, sidewalk on the other and a brick ground scape on a 3rd side.

You can see in the pics how the bricks are being impacted by the roots trying to grow, there are roots growing over the street curb and lifting the sidewalk.

There are epicormic shoots growing throughout the canopy, which i can only assume is due to the root system being restricted. Is there anything to be done here? The city wouldn't allow the removal of the sidewalk without pouring a new one in its place and likely cutting the roots out to make it level, they wouldn't be keen on the removal of a section of road either...

In this case, is it best to look at the tree removal? Is there another good option? It's in a historical part of town and the homeowner's wanted to have the tree trimmed and remove the epicormic shoots vs letting the city do it.

 

[ATH]

It's been growing with "not enough space" for decades. At some point that road or sidewalk will get replaced. I'd keep the tree until then. Is the city saying the sidewalk needs replaced? Or you are saying "if" the sidewalk is replaced, it needs to be poured new? Are they open to options like Felxipave, TERREWALKS, or even pavers (knowing they'll need to be reset every few years....but it can keep the sidewalk safe and not kill the tree). Manage it now until that day comes best you can.

Can the bricks be torn up and replaced with mulch or maybe a ground cover like sedum (or less desirable: let the English ivy be that ground cover)...or even grass (yuck---but better than bricks)? Wouldn't be much more room, but every bit could help. Maybe even have those bricks used to replace the sidewalk if the city will allow it???

Possibly a growth regulator if the tree is starting to be stressed by limited space. But, it looks like there isn't any tip dieback. The epicormics are probably an indicator of stress so its good to get right on that. But if those are new, something else has changed to cause that stress. Maybe just the drought last year???

 

[Njdelaney]

+1 to everything @ATH said. If you walk around the outside perimeter of Central Park in NYC, all the mature trees are surrounded by paving bricks that get periodically re-set. There are some drastic undulations in those bricks but the tripping hazards are few and far between. If they can do it there with the amount of foot traffic that area sees everyday, it can be done anywhere. We did a pilot project for a small city here where I shaved some off the top side of multiple large roots on a large London Plane and then replaced two flags of sidewalk with pavers. They will move but every two years we can adjust the bricks.

 

[Jehinten]

It's been growing with "not enough space" for decades. At some point that road or sidewalk will get replaced. I'd keep the tree until then. Is the city saying the sidewalk needs replaced? Or you are saying "if" the sidewalk is replaced, it needs to be poured new? Are they open to options like Felxipave, TERREWALKS, or even pavers (knowing they'll need to be reset every few years....but it can keep the sidewalk safe and not kill the tree). Manage it now until that day comes best you can.

Can the bricks be torn up and replaced with mulch or maybe a ground cover like sedum (or less desirable: let the English ivy be that ground cover)...or even grass (yuck---but better than bricks)? Wouldn't be much more room, but every bit could help. Maybe even have those bricks used to replace the sidewalk if the city will allow it???

Possibly a growth regulator if the tree is starting to be stressed by limited space. But, it looks like there isn't any tip dieback. The epicormics are probably an indicator of stress so its good to get right on that. But if those are new, something else has changed to cause that stress. Maybe just the drought last year???

There's wasn't any mention to me of the sidewalk being replaced, just observing that the sidewalk and roots are fighting for space. I'll look into the growth inhibitor, I've read very little on them and have never used any.

I've not seen any part of the city use pavers for sidewalks, however this street is one of the few that still uses bricks for the road. Maybe it'd be an option when the time comes.

The request from the homeowner was to remove deadwood, shape (which I don't think it needs anything except a little clearance over the sidewalk) and thinning the epicormic shoots. No die back yet, I just wanted to look into options for the stressers so that the shoots didn't need to pop right back outbb

 

[Analog]

Don't we want to keep the epicormic shoots in the canopy?