Tree Protection - A vital step.

Trees are valuable assets. If you've ever looked at building lots, you know that you will pay a premium for those with mature trees and for good reason. Trees near your home play a crucial role in controlling home energy use. Trees block out 70-80% of solar radiation which can lower cooling cost by 8-12%. They can also reduce the air temperature around your home up to 13 degrees. In the winter trees act as wind breaks and can lower heating cost up to 8%. Trees can also improve the air quality near your home. They absorb and trap airborne dirt and chemicals that can be potentially harmful to humans. They also store up to 13 pounds of carbon each year and produce oxygen for us to breath. I could go on and on but I think you get the point I'm trying to make. Trees are a big investment but are well worth it due to the benefits they give us.

All of that said, we need to think about protecting our trees! Most people enjoy having trees in there lawns and wouldn't think of harming them, but many people don't know that they are doing just that. Root compaction is the number one killer of trees in lawns and new construction. This is generally caused by traffic over the root system. In order to avoid this one should mulch to the edge of the drip line if possible to exclude vehicles and constant foot traffic from the main root system of a tree. In a construction setting one should fence off the tree root area to protect it from compaction and root damage.

Raising and lowering the grade of the soil around the tree can also lead to mortality. If one wants to raise the grade of the soil more than 4 inches then aeration must be provided. This can be done by creating a dry well. This simply means building areas up with rock or other materials to prevent the new soil from being added to this area. There is no cure for lowering the grade. Simply put, if you lower the grade of the soil you will remove roots. If more than 30% of the roots are removed the tree may begin to lean, get sick or die.

Trenching is also another problem that can be avoided. Many times we may need to bury a cable or pipe and we take a ditch witch and dig a trench. If we run this machine right past a tree we are cutting off many of the tree's roots. It would be much better to move outside the drip line (edge of outermost branches) of the tree in order to limit the number of severed roots. We could also bore under the tree instead of trenching in order to preserve roots.

If for some reason you do need to damage roots there are certain steps you can take to help the tree to recover. The first of those is to water. Watering is the most important activity you need to undertake to save the tree. Pruning out dead and disease wood, crossing branches and undesirable limbs will also help the tree. Depending on the amount of roots damaged the tree will likely go into decline, but if these steps are taken you could possibly save the damaged tree.

Trees are extremely valuable so take care of them. Protect them from harm and and you will enjoy them for years to come.