Tree root system compromised?

[climbingmonkey24]

Without accounting for tree vitality and species, that tree may be salvaged with some mulching, occasional watering, and possibly a pgr

Without that what is your opinion? Do you think where they dug is close enough to have distrusted the structure of the tree / health?

I’m not a certified arborist I’m just a climber. This is my first time dealing with a situation like this.

 

[Chaplain242]

From photos I cant see any significant lean that would make me fret. That combined with your wettest month is June, your windiest month is March (9mph average) I wouldn’t be too worried.

A trick I use for compromised trees is to get a heavy tent stake with a ribbon or plastic marker to identify it; then attach a line that lasts (picture wire is good) and tie to tree somehow, and tension wire in the direction of lean.

That way when you come back another date you can see the amount of movement it has shifted since you set it. Easy way to monitor.

 

[JD3000]

Thumb tack and a digital level with degrees.

 

[cerviarborist]

Thumb tack and a digital level with degrees.

Or even tacks and the level function on your smart phone.

 

[Chaplain242]

Thumb tack and a digital level with degrees.

Good idea, I usually get called to do this whilst out in the field no prep so improvised solutions. Good idea on phone too although might test for consistency as phones lately have been annoying me with inconsistent behaviour.

Taught line is handy although fraught with risk of disturbance between inspections.

 

[eyehearttrees]

Root systems are very dependent on soil type and tree species. I’ve been amazed at the size of roots which can be cut without issue, just make sure they are cut

Seriously!! Some trees seem to cringe or even die with moderate root-disturbance while other species seem so resilient they hardly notice and simply shed some foliage while their 'roots&shoots' balance works-towards its new balance

 

[eyehearttrees]

Yeah, it's just a tree.

Have read this 3x now and cannot discern what you're saying (am presuming there's something here, 'innuendo'/implication/etc, surely you aren't just stating the obvious & got a Like for it )

 

[southsoundtree]

The excavation folks, "yeah, it's just a tree"----my interpretation.


You can easily dig up the roots and prune them.

You need a lot more info and pics if you want a real answer.

 

[eyehearttrees]

View attachment 61167

Ok so they started digging to the left of the red line and cut the roots in half there. They went down probably 5-8 ft or so, give or take. And you can see how far back they went towards the woods. That’s behind the natural lean of the tree.

Is it possible to do some aggressive pruning/limbing up top to help ease the burden/worry of the lean (so much more worrisome after you noticed that crack, gah I'm still not feeling confident to approach something like that that could barberchair me!!), if the tree can handle it you may be able to get to have your cake and eat it, too, with that approach - hell even if you weren't sure it'd survive an aggressive job to help counterbalance its lean a bit, it may still be worth *attempting that anyways* and, if it does fail & the tree starts dying, *then* go ahead and drop it!

(PS if you're near tampa-area FL by chance I will happily come and try to make the canopy's balance more favorable WRT the lean, for free obviously am just trying to get experience right now but cannot go around cutting-down trees willy-nilly and am in a position where my entire clientele is used to a flat hourly-rate for general-services so, sadly, I'm rarely using my climbing gear on-job because I refuse to get into a spot of doing specialized work at my old general-labor rates - have been eager for things to cut but cannot set a precedent for cheap-work amongst my clients because they were built-up over the years by referral only so if I do a cheapie job for 1 then the rest will know And yes I'm newer but would happily send jpg's or mp4 to show I've got 100% ansi-compliant gear, several saws (2 climbing saws), and that I can get move around & cut properly in a tree - would make a video of face cuts but I don't have any trees I can practice them on!)

 

[southsoundtree]

Maple. Maybe a swamp maple. Like 45 years old or so. It’s decent size. Probably 60-70 ft maybe. Just eye balling. For some reason my pics from phone aren’t working

start with a proper ID. This will tell you about what kind of patient you have. Crocodiles, alligators, and caymans look alike, but...

 

[eyehearttrees]

The excavation folks, "yeah, it's just a tree"----my interpretation.


You can easily dig up the roots and prune them.

You need a lot more info and pics if you want a real answer.

Wow who's the goose? Me I'll never understand the lack of respect for trees, had always kinda thought it was a general human thing (I remember some trivia along the lines of "the most-common first-memory people have *aside from* another human, is a memory of a tree") yet even amongst climbing arborists I see a lot of disregard for trees-in-general (I've gotta add the caveat that, while not a tree-hugger in any sense, I am a long-time bonsai nut so I'm probably in that nutty 1% that just LOVES trees lol, have been in a half-manic happy state for months since realizing I could specialize in ONLY working on trees, instead of them being ~1/4th of my routine workload over the past years )

 

[eyehearttrees]

FWIW, seeing it's a Maple, those guys will take a beating and survive, in late-Jan this year I grabbed two ~15-20' swamp Maples from nearby my place, taking maybe a 3cu ft root-mass with me and chopping them to 2' stumps to be containerized (first step in making a 'yamadori bonsai' via trunk-chop method, basically this creates an espaldier style re-growth and you simply remove most of the buds then train the rest which eventually become your bonsai's primary limbs and which, on the top-most shoot, you rely upon for its collar's growth to roll-over the chop-wound you gave it upon collection!)

If the tree's got value for her it's probably at least worth trying to preserve, if it fails you can always drop it later (I know, it'll be weaker / more dangerous then, but it's something you can gauge pretty well so you'd be able to know it was dead-but-not-decayed and make your move then if that was the case!)

 

[Chaplain242]

If the tree is already a copse tree whereby it doesn’t spread like it does in the open, wouldn’t worry too match about savaging it as it would likely be better off with a light prune (if pruning required at all) to improve form and lightly reduce nutrient requirements as it probably has fairly good access to water and nutrients from its location.

 

[Mowerr]

View attachment 61167

Ok so they started digging to the left of the red line and cut the roots in half there.

What exactly do u mean by cut them in half?
Im assuming they just cut them with a saw like normal, not split them in half.
Let it rock and keep an eye on it Because in the end no matter who u ask, nobody will know if it's gonna live on if you don't give it the chance.
Keep an eye on the old girl and if she's not developing like you want then light that thing up.

 

[climbingmonkey24]

What exactly do u mean by cut them in half?
Im assuming they just cut them with a saw like normal, not split them in half.
Let it rock and keep an eye on it Because in the end no matter who u ask, nobody will know if it's gonna live on if you don't give it the chance.
Keep an eye on the old girl and if she's not developing like you want then light that thing up.

They did the exact opposite.

They used an excavator and ripped the roots in right in half. There was no clean cuts whatsoever, they yanked them upwards until they broke.

 

[climbingmonkey24]

Anyways, thanks for all the replies. I’ve done a lot of research on my own anyways. I just wanted some opinions. I know it’s hard to give an opinion based off the pics I uploaded. But thanks for the good responses.