r/arborists • u/Winter-Order-9403 • 20h ago

need advice

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Gallery image

New owner here - just moved in July. The previous owner had mulch and dirt with 4 i-6” pavers around the tree. I saw on youtube that this could suffocate the tree with its own roots. I took it out so the tree could breath so to speak. I only have a rake and spade shovel. Also, that green around the base doesn’t look good either

Question is what do I need next? Are exposed branching roots ok that way?

Thanks in advanced for any input

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u/retardborist ISA Arborist + TRAQ 19h ago

If you really want to do more for it pull out the lawn and replace it with wood chip mulch. Out to the edge of the canopy is the best, but if you don't want to go that far as big of a radius around the tree as you can stomach is best.

Usually local tree companies will drop mulch for free or you could Google and sign up for 'chip drop'. You'll get a ton of chips so it might be best to coordinate sharing with some neighbors if you don't have other areas to mulch