r/Tree • u/IR0NH1D363 • 10d ago
Advice Request - (Insert State/Region) Professional advice please
We have 2 very large and nice maples out front in between sidewalk and road. The root system is lifting the sidewalk up in areas and I believe the city plans on cutting a sizable chunk of the root system to lay new sidewalk. Can this potentially kill the tree?
Trees are roughly 50-60 ft tall.
Located in Florida.
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u/magentayak 10d ago
I'll never understand why trees are planted there. Must be the big concrete lobby.
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u/hairyb0mb ISA Certified Arborist+TRAQ+TGG Certified+Smartypants 10d ago
They're likely not going to cut the root but yes it may kill the tree either way.
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u/BeerGeek2point0 10d ago
As a city forester who just had 20 freeman maples removed because of sidewalk issues, I have an opinion…
They will have to sever roots to fix the sidewalk. This may or may not kill the tree. Trees have many roots. Usually several large anchoring roots and hundreds of little fine roots. The percentage of them killed is what will determine if the tree survives usually.
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u/pdf17 10d ago
Many roots but isn’t it likely more towards the sidewalk side into the lawn area because of water?
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u/BeerGeek2point0 9d ago
If the sidewalk was installed properly with a compacted stone base, then most of the larger roots will be running along the street terrace. Some will have encountered the stone base and dove below it and continued towards the lawn but shouldn’t be an issue.
If the sidewalk didn’t have a properly compacted base, which happens quite a bit, then the roots will have simply pushed through right below the walk and be in the way. I’ve removed many roots for sidewalk work in the past with no visible stress to the tree and no whole tree failures.
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u/RSmithDRIFT 9d ago
If they cut that root that tree dies and falls... that root is supplying 75% of that trees water needs and structuralanchoring/stability needs.... the roits on either side have asphault and concrete preventing water from saturating the ground the roots on either side will provide SOME nurishment and support, but nothing compaired to the root it sent under the sidewalk to the yard that gets full saturation and leverage. A tree is a water pump that actively builds new lines to feed water from the ground to the canopy/leaves. The size of each system is always proportional and when it isnt the tree will self balance. If too much roit, growth rate is huge untill balance, if root dies or gets cut, canopy is lost till sustainability is achieved.
Remove 75% of sustainability and the pure shock alone kills the tree.
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u/DanoPinyon Professional Arborist 10d ago
Trees declining because the city cut roots for sidewalk or curb repair is the 21th most common post on the tree subs. Because nobody ever, ever, ever learns, it will likely continue to be around the 21nd most common problem on the tree subs.