QuestionI had my husband recently dig away all the grass that was growing up around two young maple trees in our back yard so they wouldnt have to mow so close to the tree trunk. However when he did so he knicked a couple roots and even broke one or two. He argues that they will be just fine but Im afraid of the long term damage this will cause. Who is right? Can this kill the tree?
AnswerIf all he did was take the grass out there should not have been enough root damage to cause a health problem. I assume he did not dig down deeper than a couple of inches into the soil.
A trees root system is in the first 18-24 inches of soil and if one cuts more than 20-30% of the roots the tree will exhibit foliage die back. It does not sound like this was the case. Now if there was added rock etc. where the grass was removed, this can cause the air spaces in the soil to be compressed and this will cause major root damage. I would add not more than 3 inches deep of organic mulch around the tree not piled up on the trunk. It sounds like he was lucky this time---no more roots were not cut.
