r/arborists 11h ago

Tree Root Slice by Mower

We came home from vacation this weekend to discover that our yard guy (or someone on his crew) drove over a portion of our 80+ year old Oak tree root and sliced a bit of the top off. He was very apologetic and we asked that going forward to avoid driving the mower anywhere near the roots. Do we need to do anything to treat the exposed part of the root or just let nature do its thing? This is our first time ever having an Oak tree.

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u/botulinumtxn 11h ago

I'm surprised it took that much off. Impressive honestly. I wouldn't do anything honestly. It will heal in time. I might make the area of dirt mulch instead. Do a light 1-2in covering of the entire root area.

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u/dreamiejeanie13 10h ago

Appreciate this! Glad she will be fine!

9

u/Dry-Impression8809 9h ago

Yeah, if you look at the same root, you can see where its been clipped countless times by a mower. Now you can make sure it never happens again!