trees and fire pits

elleke

my tenant has dug out a fire pit 5 ft away from two trees,(an oak and a poplar). He uses the pit to burn scrap wood about 16 hours a week.
Will this do damage to the roots of these trees or am I being overprotective?
Thank you in advance to anyone who can help with this.

treefeller

How deep is the pit, are their any roots encroaching into the pit, if not their shouldnt really be a prob. The other thing to look into would be the soil bacteria, nutrients being burnt away making the soil lifeless. Has he used some sort of fire proofing mebrain as this would protect the roots and soil.

elleke

thanks copper beach for your reply, there is 1/2 an oil barrel sideways(about a foot deep) in the ground, there are cement blocks on three sides. The fire does tend to spill out to an area of about 4 by 4 feet. I haven't seen obvious roots but will look take a closer look. One tree is old 6 foot circum trunk the other is young 1 ft circum trunk. Would a general tree fertilizer help them both cope with their "hot feet"?Thanxs

treefeller

Yeah a general fertilizer should be ok with plenty of o.m and of course plenty of watering as well and the trees should be ok. Keep us informed

Eric Frei

All fires are banned here, can say never really had that consideration pop up.

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pomme

sorry to disagree treefella but the heat from a fire 5ft away from a large trunk will cause damage to the cambium on the fire side. the thick bark on the poplar might have more resistance but if damaged will not bode well for this tree. this is a common problem

treefeller

Overlooked that part,sorry,