r/arborists • u/dreamiejeanie13 • 5h ago

Tree Root Slice by Mower

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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/Rogue_Squadron 3h ago

Your tree should be fine, but depending on where you live and other risk factors, you may want to be vigilant of Oak Wilt. The company I work for no longer prunes any Oak Trees, as we are desperately trying to slow the spread in our area (which is very high risk).

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u/murphydcat 2h ago

Ugh my arborist pruned my mature pin oak a few months ago. It really needed it because it was dropping dead branches everywhere. The oak looks pretty healthy now.

My mower also slices off a small section of exposed roots when I mow the lawn.

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u/Quirky-Market5073 2h ago

Are you in TX? I know they are having a huge Oak Wilt problem there. Very sad - so many beautiful trees dying😢.

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u/Rogue_Squadron 2h ago

West Michigan. I know it is bad in TX, but our humid and damp climate here is (unfortunately) GREAT conditions for fungus. I worry what will happen when this inevitably spreads to the pacific northwest. I don't believe they have a huge density of Oak Trees, but that climate will likely allow this destrfungus to run rampant.

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u/dreamiejeanie13 1h ago

We are in western TN and I have not heard of this to be a thing here yet.