Roots cut on peach and a Yoshino Cherry

[David McMahon]

Plumbers digging a trench around these trees.

Will these make it? Anything I can do to help at this point?

Neither produce fruit. Just blossoms.

Both are 5-6" trunk diameter.

The cherry got it on 2 sides. The peach fully side swiped.

Including a 2.5-3" root that was cut from one side of the cherry. Ouch.
I guess the good news there is the roots got cut on both of the sides growing toward the house.

I'm in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Northern California.

 

[ATH]

A) that didn't do the trees any favors, but may not be a huge deal. More concerning on the cherry with that big chunk - basically all on one side.

B) when we see those cuts on larger trees we worry about destabilizing the tree and they can fall over and cause significant damage.

C) both of those trees look like they were planted too deep, which would limit their life expectancy.

 

[David McMahon]

A) that didn't do the trees any favors, but may not be a huge deal. More concerning on the cherry with that big chunk - basically all on one side.

Yeah, the cherry has another chunk like that taken on the other side (top of image - you can't see another similar cut) on a shallow larger root. So each side both one of the bigger shallow roots taken from it. Should I cut back the branches to even things out? Will that help? How long for those roots to recover and start taking in nutrients again?

B) when we see those cuts on larger trees we worry about destabilizing the tree and they can fall over and cause significant damage.

Yes, thankfully these are smaller. We don't get many big windy storms up here so I'm hoping stability-wise anyway they can weather through this.

C) both of those trees look like they were planted too deep, which would limit their life expectancy.

Good point there. These trees pre-dated my ownership of the property.
I suppose there's nothing I can really do about that now?

 

[Jed1124]

Good point there. These trees pre-dated my ownership of the property.
I suppose there's nothing I can really do about that now?

You can excavate to uncover the root flares with hand tools.
An application of Paclobutrazole may be helpful in encouraging fine root growth.

 

[ATH]

NO... don't prune the top because roots are cut. They need extra watering to make up for what the roots cannot get, but not less energy production potential.

Think of it this way (not a perfect example):
Somebody raided your cabinets and took all of your food reserves (cut the roots)....would your response be fewer grocery store trips (tree bringing in less "food" through photosynthisis)?