Root Collar Excavation

Doodie Head (A. rubrum)is actually in very good shape, I removed a SGR a few years back and included it because we're putting a big bed around it.

Poop and Caca (A. platanoides) were the time consuming buggers.
 
I string trim it until the white crown of the turf is visible and you can see the thatch/soil. Then we covered it with a thick mulch layer to smother it.

If some survives, and some always does, I can come back and zap it if need be. Vinegar or pelargonic acid work well on stressed turf survivors as does glyphosate but the formers are less risk.
20170615_120818.webp
 
Sold some more RCX/ SGR pruning on ornamentals.

Looking to buy an air excavation tool. Advice?? What's the latest greatest? What's a good bang for the buck and high quality?
 
I bought the Airspade kit, that comes with the case, 45* adapter, and light hose.. The case is nice, as well as the light hose however I'm not too sure if it's worth the extra $. I'm sure the 45* adapter has a very specific time and place, but I haven't found it yet.
People seem to swear by the Air knife, and Airspade. Seems like a husky/stihl thing to me, perhaps the air knife being slightly better.
 
I've been reusing the removed feeder roots as you've show here since you mentioned the practice some time ago.
 
Treezybreez said:
Maybe I should rephrase that. At what distance from the trunk of a tree does a girdling root not become an issue?
Click to expand...
I find myself looking around and just past an average mature stem diameter.

For easy number example if 95% of your local Norway maple population grows to a 24" diameter at the base I'd look up to 30". Gives a 6" buffer which I think is reasonable
 
I haven't made it through all the pages yet but there have been a few people asking if you prune roots and crowns together at the same time.

My answer for that is maybe. You need to consider your prescription. For easy number example you have a Norway maple medium vigour. You come to the conclusion you think it can handle a 25% reduction without stressing it does that mean 25% crown now and 25% roots now? That is still 25% of the overall system but if it's a Blvd tree etc crown and roots may not be equal.

This math works fairly on let's say open grown forest or park trees but not every urban tree has and equal crown to root ratio which must be considered.

Another layer to this is we reduce, shape and thin out crowns to promote preferred limbs for structure and looks. Should we in earth trees in planters and thin out there roots every 5 years to have an open structure instead of a messy root ball? Should we thin out root systems so we can help out certain roots?

Guy's saying roots and crowns are equal why not treat them the same but in the real world we only go to the roots if there's an actual problem. Crowns we make plyable to our customers whims
 
You laugh and curse those who keep very expensive Japanese maples in containers for way too long and dont root prune between "up-potting" stages during nursery production...

I brought out the home owner and showed him how bad it was. He said " What the hell, do it. If it lives great."
His other two weren't nearly as bad.

You pick an area to start at and work around from there to give your hands and tools room to work. Felco pruners, loppers, little Silky Excell, SHARP chisels, some with rounded ends are the best in many situations. Phase job over a few years
 
JD3000 said:
You laugh and curse those who keep very expensive Japanese maples in containers for way too long and dont root prune between "up-potting" stages during nursery production...

I brought out the home owner and showed him how bad it was. He said " What the hell, do it. If it lives great."
His other two weren't nearly as bad.

You pick an area to start at and work around from there to give your hands and tools room to work. Felco pruners, loppers, little Silky Excell, SHARP chisels, some with rounded ends are the best in many situations. Phase job over a few years
Click to expand...
So where is the after pic?
 
Rare and very expensive J maples. That one was declining a bit too.

We'll give it a whirl. Homeowner was very into the process of removal and how SGRs can occur. Good dude.
 
Can't find one...I may have uploaded to Dropbox or Drive though. Been trying to clear up space on thus phone, I shall go look
 
IMG_0400.webp IMG_0455.webp IMG_0457.webp IMG_0413.webp IMG_0416.webp IMG_0421.webp Initial visit was the brown tree on July 29.
Airspade and root pruning august 8/9
After photos 8/30
Edit: I never took "after" photos when completed with the root pruning. All the photos of the pruning were mid project.
 
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