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Originally Posted by rentachimp  Just something else to bear in mind; removing mature trees can cause the soil to flood, as the tree is no longer pulling water out of the surrounding soil every day.
It can also cause soil erosion, due to the lack of shelter from the full force of the rain. The canopy, particularly when in leaf, slows the descent of rain and can hold water which evaporates into the atmosphere before ever reaching the ground.
Another well documented phenomenon is subsidence caused by the root system decomposing, thus leaving wide open spaces in the soil structure.
Maybe a 10-20% crown reduction is in order, to keep it from devouring your property.
Food for thought, is all.
Oh, and hi; I'm new here  |
You're very right the removal of any long established tree will tremendously alter the balance of numerous biocycles in the soil, water nitrogen carbon etc... Being able to substantively prove in court that a tree is the single cause for foundation movement or even relative soil moisture fluctuations is no easy feat.
Trees have a massive impact on soil moisture as well as every other aspect of the underground environment but its a two way street. Re moisture trees suck but so does soil, clay soils around Melbourne have been measured as having a suction of 7pF the wilting point of most of our natives comes in around 3.5pF, so in dry and drying conditions the soil won't give the moisture up to tree anyway.
Heard a very good presentation by a guy from the Foundations and Footings Society at last yrs ISAAC conference.
Suffice to say that if the only reason the tree is being considered for removal is the thought that it is in some way robbing moisture from a lawn, well IMHO bad luck for the lawn, there's more to it than just the tree taking up water.
I'll get together some links and docs on this topic and put them in the Tree fact Factory threads.
SF