My Winter Flowering Cherry Tree

RED

I planted my winter flowering cherry tree as a very small plant 10 years ago. Once it had matured it has been brilliant - a wonderful sight in my large front garden during the winter months with wonderful blossom. I have noticed that this summer that some of its root is showing through the lawn. I need advice as to what I should do about this - as my tree looks perfectly healthy. My lawn though does need a little bit of tlc around the base of the tree. Your help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
Red

Sean Freeman

Hello RED, the best advice for improving the long term health of any tree growing in a lawn is to carefully remove a circle of truf around the base of the tree with as big a radius as possible (or as much as you find visually pleasing). There are a great many very fine feeder roots in this area of top soil so be careful to cut a very thin thickness of soil with each sod of turf. You will then have the trunk of your tree surrounded by a bare circle of earth say 6-10' in radius, over the bare earth spread aged woodchips to a depth of 2/3" leaving a space around the trunk itself (having any mulch piled up against the stem of the tree is a very bad idea for tree health).




This layer of mulch will gradually breakdon and in the process produce the perfect environment for healthy tree roots and the symbiotic micro soil organisms crucial to effective absorption of soil minerals and water.

Any large surface roots will normally be prodiced by the tree in this areaq close to the stem (unless very adverse soil conditions exist in the growing site ie; highly compacted or waterlogged soils)and creating the mulched area will avoid mower damage as well as eliminate tripping hazards.

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Eric Frei

Nice pics Boa, you mind adding those to the mulching thread in Tree Fact Factory.

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Frimsley

This is a general problem with cherries - the roots tend to be very close to the surface. In lawns this means they appear in the lawn, and end up getting 'scalped' as you mow. In hard surfaces it usually means disruption to the surface and trip hazards.

There's not a great deal you can do about this. The harsh fact is that in many situations if you want a cherry you have to accept that it will cause problems in the surrounding area. Boa's suggestion of carefully removing the lawn around the base of the tree is probably your best option. Significantly, this removes the need to mow around here so reduces the risk of damage to both the tree and your mower.

RED

Hello boaO7, thanks very much for your reply - it is full of really useful information - and I am so very relieved that I can sort out the problem so that my cherry tree will continue to look beautiful for many years to come.
Thanks again.
Red

RED

Hello Frimsley, thanks very much for your reply. The information has been so very useful and using boa07's instructions I am now so relieved that I can look forward to admiring my cherry tree in full blossom for many years to come.
RED