Girdling roots

[coolbrze]

What's your favorite tool to deal w/ root girdling roots?

 

[Zale]

air spade & chisels

 

[treeseer]

What's your favorite tool to deal w/ root girdling roots?

None--roots graft to roots. Was that a trick question?

If you mean stem-girdlers, then +1, plus loppers, chainsaw, hand pruners, mattock etc.; anything so long as the stem is not wounded.

 

[Mike Cantolina]

I don't have much experience with this. Is this where you guys would make the cut?

I'm not trying to hijack the thread just thought a pic could help the conversation.

 

[Zale]

Before you cut, excavate around the trunk to determine the amount of viable roots. Even though it is a girdling root, it might be the main root for the tree.

 

[2treeornot2tree]

Check out this maple I was looking at today. View attachment 200192View attachment 200193

 

[Zale]

Check out this maple I was looking at today. View attachment 200192View attachment 200193

That looks more like old landscape fabric wrapped around the trunk. Nevertheless, still girdled.

 

[2treeornot2tree]

I dug around it and there seems to be roots wrapping around the trunk to. I gotta investigate it further.

 

[tree MDS]

I don't have much experience with this. Is this where you guys would make the cut?

I'm not trying to hijack the thread just thought a pic could help the conversation.

Personally, I would consider that one too far advanced to mess with. gotta get em when smaller IMO.

 

[Mike Cantolina]

I wondered about that too. It's a pretty nice tree to lose though:

I don't have a good pic of it so I created an animated gif from a video I took.

 

[treeseer]

Personally, I would consider that one too far advanced to mess with. gotta get em when smaller IMO.

Nothing to fear but fear itself, but you do have a point. looks like cut should be farther out to conserve the thicker roots. your red line would conflict with 83.6.3 in this draft standard:

83.6 Root pruning: girdling roots

83.6.1 Roots that contact the trunk or a buttress root should be considered for pruning

83.6.2 Girdling roots should be visible on all sides before pruning is planned

83.6.3 If a root is thicker than 10% of the trunk diameter and girdles less than 10% of the trunk, retention should be considered

83.6.4 Roots that cross other roots outside the buttress area should be retained.

83.6.5 Species ability to graft root tissue to stem tissue shall be considered

83.6.6 Exposure and pruning in spring and early summer should be limited to protected areas such as the north side of the trunk

83.6.7 Pruning cuts should be made back to non-girdling lateral roots where possible

83.6.8 Damage to the trunk and buttress roots shall be avoided

83.6.9 If more than one large girdling root is present, pruning in stages should be considered.

83.6.10 Roots that circle the stem should be straightened or pruned

83.6.11 Excavated soil and fine roots should be incorporated into the outer rootzone as soil amendments

 

[ATH]

Nothing to fear but fear itself, but you do have a point. looks like cut should be farther out to conserve the thicker roots. your red line would conflict with 83.6.3 in this draft standard:
......
83.6.3 If a root is thicker than 10% of the trunk diameter and girdles less than 10% of the trunk, retention should be considered
......

I'd say that root is putting pressure on more than 10% of the trunk.

If you want to be less aggressive with that, you should at least prune off the right fork of the Y.

I'd probably prune off near the red line. We know the fate of the tree if you don't take care of it (it may take 10-12 more years to cause bigger problems, but no doubt it will). The risk in pruning it off now is that pruning may cause too much loss of root area or accelerated decay. But it is not like the choice is either "problem or no problem". Doing nothing means there is a problem. Pruning the root may cause a problem (probably better than a 50% chance it will...), but the only way the tree has a chance to thrive is if you remove it. Present the client with options:
1) Do nothing, and have a problem in a few years - but enjoy the tree until then (monitor every year to make sure it isn't a hazard).
2) Remove the root and hope for the best.
3) Start a new tree now because it is smaller (cheaper) now and you can get somethng new started immediately.

 

[treeseer]

...If you want to be less aggressive with that, you should at least prune off the right fork of the Y....

Yes thyanks that is what i meant to say.

Present the client with options:
1) Do nothing, and have a problem in a few years - but enjoy the tree until then (monitor every year to make sure it isn't a hazard).
2) Remove the root and hope for the best.
3) Start a new tree now because it is smaller (cheaper) now and you can get somethng new started immediately.

Good post. Most people would choose #2 imo and it should do well. Cutting it at the origin would probably work out as well, if timing and conditions and followup were good.