Did I kill my live oak tree??

pvick

I fear I have done something very stupid to one of my live oak trees and am worried what I did may cause it to die. We have 3 live oak trees in our front yard each with a trunk diameter of 11-12". Two of the trees are sprouting a forest of shoots underneath the tree. The one I'm worried about is planted in an area that is landscaped with ground cover of low growing juniper. It's next to impossible to keep the sprouts trimmed out of this ground cover. I dug up the juniper and was going to put ground cloth and mulch to see if it would slow down the growth of the shoots and, if it didn't help, maybe it would make it easier to weedeat the shoots. In the process I decided to lower the ground level a few inches to enable the mulch to stay in place and not be above the rock ledge surrounding the area. As it turns out, what I learned we were cutting out were all the feeder roots of the tree. These roots were cut starting about 2 feet from the trunk of the tree to about 9 feet or so around the tree about 3/4 of the way around the tree before I realized what we were doing. I have since done the sick tree treatment on the tree and put a 1" layer of compost down. I plan to also put a layer of shale, then the ground cloth and mulch. My question is, have I killed my tree? Is there anything else I can do to save the tree? I feel very stupid in Texas.

stirmantrees

did you change the grade at all prior to the sprouts coming out? New landscaping, etc.
what were the size of the roots you were cutting?
It has been explored in another thread that when trees are covered with too much soil(ie grade change) the tree "may" create many adventatious roots as well as "sprouts" that come from the existing roots. the cure would be to carefully remove the excess, not put down more.
Around Florida grade change is a big killer in construction.
Oh yeah. Pictures would be awesome

i do not believe a ground cloth is a good idea over trees that you love. my .02

Here is the thread that I was referring to.
Help I'm being taken over| Preventing sucker growth

TreeSpecialist

Live oaks are root sprouters.?When the soil level is too high or the tree is planted too deep, they root sprout. This is their primary means of propagation.

What you found when digging around the tree was actually a halo of adventitious roots that had formed around the tree because of too much soil.

Removing those roots done to where one can identify the original root flares of the tree is a beneficial thing to do. This is best accomplished by a qualified arborist with an airspade.?

The level of the soil must not be replenished if you want to keep the root sprouts at bay.

Do not plant anything beneath the trees. This only injures tree roots and will not make ay plantings in the shade of the tree happy. The competition is not only for light above ground but for water and nutrients below ground. The tree will usually win the fight.

See page 13 of :

http://tiny.cc/ERGYY


for more information.

Attached Files

vol_30_no2_1106.pdf.pdf (817.5 KB, 46 views)

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Garry Brockley

This can also happen if the root flare is damaged and covered.

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