Question
QUESTION: I have an 8 foot fig tree in my yard that is threatened by some construction we're doing.  We need to dig away the earth on one side of the tree.  Unfortunately, the digging would cause us to cut a fan of roots extending from the tree.

The fan starts with a very thick, yellow root (about 2 inches) and branches off into 20 or so smaller roots.

Will cutting this piece of the root system likely kill the tree?  If so, we'll replan our construction.

Thanks,
John

ANSWER: follow-up with what type of fig you mean, ornamental (ficus Benjamina) or fruit type, Nick

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: It's a fruiting fig tree that looks like this one:

http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~denero/photos/fig1.jpg

Here are photos of the root that we might cut:

http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~denero/photos/fig2.jpg
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~denero/photos/fig3.jpg

I hope this helps,
John


Answer
John, saw the photos, if you cut that much of a main root, you will definitely stress it, and probably kill it; is it possible to move the tree, it doesn't look that big, a little effort to get all the roots and have a hole already dug to put it in may be a viable option, otherwise......your call...Nick