Live Oak in Texas growing little stems underneather

mcsooner

I have a beautiful Live Oak that is approximately 20 to 25 years old. It was planted as a baby tree when our house was built. Over the past 5 years it has started growing hundreds of little stiff stems or baby trees as I call them, underneather it. Is there something wrong with the tree and it's trying to tell us something or is there something we can do to keep this from happening? We can't walk under the tree without shoes with thick soles because it's so uncomfortable besides being unsightly.

Christy Skinner

TreeSpecialist

Live oaks (Quercus virginiana) are clonal species - they propagate by putting out root sprouts that then become trees.

This always happens when they are planted too deep or have too much mulch placed on top of the root ball.

The root sprouts are correctly called "rhizomic shoots".

You can read more about it at:

http://www.isatexas.com/images/newsl...ewsltr0108.pdf - page 14

and at:

http://www.isatexas.com/images/newsl...ewsltr0108.pdf - page 10.

Removing the sprouts involves lowering the soil around the base of the tree to where the trunk flares. Then the sprouts are clipped off the roots.

It's done best with a device called an Airspade®.

__________________

La Porte Res

As I have been perusing the site in regards to this problem, I keep coming across the reason being for the root shoots is because of soil level being changed.

We have had our trees for 15 years and we have not added any additional soil on the top or done any type of soil amendment and this is the first year that we've started having this problem.

BUT, we did have a root barrier installed last year when we had to get our house leveled. Would this have anything to do with it? If so, again, what needs to be done.

TreeSpecialist

Root barriers or "weed blockers" seem to have the same effect.

The live oak will build a huge mat of small roots just below the barrier which in time (5 - 10 years) will serve to choke the tree to death.

Symptoms will be multiple root sprouts erupting through the barrier, a slowing of grow ( less twig elongation) and smaller leaves each year.

Remove the root barrier if it over the top of the root system in any way.

If roots were cut during the installation of the barrier, new sprouts will form at the cuts. Cut them below grade with a sharp pair of pruning shears.

The only "root barrier" that seems to NOT do this are the ones with embedded herbicide which kill root tips as they approach the barrier.

The long term effects of these kind of barriers have yet to be discovered.

__________________

La Porte Res

Thank you for your prompt reply. I would like to get more information concerning this but I feel I need to give you more information so you can see exactly what I'm talking about.

I plan on taking some pictures and including them in my next email.

Thank you again