Tree uprooting? Need professional advice.

stang1911

stang1911

Location
Harrisburg
I have a large poplar that I believe is uprooting itself. Does anyone know someone good to contact near Mechanicsburg, PA to come check it out?
Thank you.
 
You need to find somebody that has the Rinntech Arbortom and root testing apparatus or elasto-inclino tree pulling equipment.
 
Or maybe a low tech look by an Arborist first, and let them prescribe a course of action. A lot can be gleaned from a mallet and a pair of eyes.

Pictures would be helpful too if you could post some. But, the advise here is no substitute for someone actually putting eyes on the tree.

Also go to treesaregood.org, and use the "Find An Arborist" button to begin your search.
 
6 years ago only the one root with the rock in it was visible. Within 1-2 years the others moved to surface. I was pruning it over the winter and found the top 4feet was black. (possible lightning stike) I cut it down to the next living union but the heart looked black as well.
 
Those roots have nothing to do with uprooting, they are related to soil.

A mallet is great if you are not testing conifers, trees with kretzschmaria or trees with sapwood decay. That is pretty basic knowledge. How does an arborist test the roots for decay or test for soil failure?
 
There is really no way to fix surface roots without changing gas flux in the soil. If you have hard pan or poor drainage there is a possibility to correct this, if you have clay soils there is really not much you can do. Roots like to grow where there is oxygen, they are doing what comes naturally
 
mrtree said:
Those roots have nothing to do with uprooting, they are related to soil.
Click to expand...

Agreed. As the tree grows the so do the roots. As they grow in diameter they may "push" out of the ground. And then put erosion of the soils from above and over time the roots show. Uprooting is caused by root or soil failure. Neither can be seen in your pictures.

mrtree said:
A mallet is great if you are not testing conifers, trees with kretzschmaria or trees with sapwood decay. That is pretty basic knowledge. How does an arborist test the roots for decay or test for soil failure?
Click to expand...

The mallet was just making a point to starting off with basic tools before you try to find thousands of dollars worth of equipment. I don't know about central PA but I don't know anyone on my side of the state that has that kind of equipment. I would be lucky to know a guy with a resistograph. Not trying to start a pissing match but that's our market.
 
We have clay soil here and it is a pain to plant/dig in. I'm going to remove all rocks that I can lightly dig up in the area, move my rock ring out some and remulch.
I was a little worried about this as it could take out my neighbors garage if it were to fall.
Thank you.
 
I agree those roots don't indicate uprooting. When determining whether a tree is uprooting you look at the soil near the roots. The roots are not going to pull out of the ground without lifting the earth too. You will see upheaved earth on the back side of the lean...unless there is root decay and the tree just snaps of at the root flare, but for the most part you are going to see the earth lifting too. Also walk around the tree looking at the growth habit. Is the top leader growing vertically? Or is the top of the tree at an angle? Sometimes you can tell if a tree was leaning years ago and has corrected its balance by growing vertically after the lean. But to be safe you can get someone in to look at it. Hope everything goes well for you.
 
I like my rock ring, it keeps grass out and makes a break between lawn and tree. I did move it out to 4 ft from trunk and I never volcano mulch. Will get pics when I'm done.
 
I grew up in forest and didn't have a place to setup a hockey rink. :) My kids can run/play without worry of being impaled with a stick, if they want to do that then they can run into our woods on our lower property. I hate mowing but a lawn is good for family time.
 
If you want to find out conclusively whether the trunk of the tree is moving, relative to grade, purchase a digital level, a hammer and a few aluminum nails. (Aluminum because they'll be kinder to a saw chain, should it ever come to that in the future) Drive two nails into the trunk in line with the direction of the trunk and on the top side of the trunk relative to the lean. Drive the nails in so that they're through the bark and into the wood, but the tops of the nails still stand proud relative to the bark. Those will be your reference points.

Now turn on the digital level and place it on the trunk on top of the nails and write down the degrees relative to level. Leave the nails and then come back at whatever interval (1 week, 2 weeks, but under 30 days) you think is relevant, and take another reading from your previous reference points. If the inclination has changed, then the trunk is moving and you've got an issue. If the inclination hasn't changed, the position of the trunk is static.
 
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