Question About a Tree

We're building a pool in an enclosed area that is hard to reach. The contractors have piled up dirt that they will use later all around a red oak tree. It reaches about 3 feet up the trunk (the tree is HUGE, so there's still about 5 feet of trunk until the canopy of leaves).

I've heard that this will kill a tree....but how fast? The contractor doesn't seem to worry about it. Any other concerns?

Thanks,
Connie

No don't cover up oak roots. It takes a while to kill a oak that way but you should never cover oak roots with dirt. Around here we have strict laws about large oaks and you see oaks in parking lots where the parking lot is built up 2-3 ft and the oak is on the orginal ground. They just put in drainage so the tree doesn't get flooded.

Big equipment shouldn't run all over the roots either. Do you mean they will move all the dirt away from the oak or do they plan to leave a bunch of dirt all around the oak? A short time (few weeks) isn't a problem if the dirt is removed and the roots don't get run over badly by a bobcat or something like that.

Core: Sorry I wasn't clear. They are just leaving the dirt there until they move it in about....3 weeks? They are saving it for a planter that will be against the pool sides, so can't move it yet.

I've heard you can kill a tree by just cutting a ring all around the tree at the ground level, so I was afraid the dirt might do something similar and it might die. This tree was stressed while we remodeled the house because we moved out and it didn't have the water from the septic tank that it normally had. The next year it barely had a canopy of leaves, so I hired a tree guy to give it feedings, etc. So...I'm really watching out for it now! :)

Thanks for the info! This is the tree that's being covered at the roots.



This message was edited Jul 31, 2007 10:02 PM

I have heard that as little as a foot of dirt piled up around a mature tree will eventually kill it. I believe it has something to do with cutting off the oxygen from all the surface feeder roots.

Can you get them to move some of the dirt away from the trunk? Like maybe for a circle of 6'-8'??? A backhoe could scrape it away in no time. You know how builder's plans go. Three weeks can become three months. I would keep a keen eye on all this.
If not, start shoveling!

Gita

Yep, remove the pile, preferably yesterday. Even three weeks burial is enough to kill the roots.

And make sure that (if you get anyone in to do the work) that they don't damage the bark, nor run heavy machinery over the roots (that can also kill them, by compacting the soil structure).

The tree will need a radius of at least 6-8 metres restored to the previous soil level for safety.

Resin