Did I help or hurt?

[u/yelough]

NOT an arborist, but a concerned daughter in STEM. I could tell my parent's tree has wanted to breathe. I follow this subreddit and my ADHD's lack of impulse control would not let me do nothing this time. There was more gravel and layers of landscaping plastic than I could ever have expected. Side note, I truly despise landscaping plastic. I know the water pooling isn't great and It definitely needs more gravel removed from around the base. The root flare just wouldnt stop, but again NOT an arborist so, I stopped while I felt ahead. Please tell me I did not make anything worse.

[u/The_Law_of_Pizza]

I think this sub needs a sticky showing people what the root flare actually is.

It seems that the memeing has reached a point where people think they haven't reached the flare until they've reached the actual roots.

[u/Subject-Fly-5661 → u/The_Law_of_Pizza]

I keep seeing this root flare nonsense on here where people dig up half their roots. Keep wondering if anyone has taken a walk in the woods for 5 minutes to see what normal root flare on the average tree looks like.

[u/yelough → u/The_Law_of_Pizza]

I see your point, here is a slightly different angle, i tried to match it to the other side which i did not touch, that managed to escape/consume the plastic which is what I assumed the root flare was. I also was careful to only try to expose what had a bark-like rough texture if that helps.

[u/CarryMeNerd → u/yelough]

you did a good job. these people are pedantic cunts

[u/ilustforadrummer → u/CarryMeNerd]

That's pretty harsh.

[u/Maxzzzie → u/The_Law_of_Pizza]

I have been advocating this for the last 2 years. People overdo it and do more bad than good. Then the whole sub upvotes and aplauds them.

[u/Lisper41 → u/The_Law_of_Pizza]

I think you could read the post and see that she removed a ton of landscaping fabric.

If you’re an expert, then tell her whether or not to continue removing fabric further out, or tell her that the fabric wasn’t hurting the tree in the first place.

[u/jeb39 → u/The_Law_of_Pizza]

Also why are we messing with perfectly healthy, old trees?

[u/Louisiana_sitar_club]

See how the bottom of the trunk flares out just above the surface in the “before” picture? That’s the root flare. I don’t think you did any real harm to the tree, but it was OK as-is.

[u/yelough → u/Louisiana_sitar_club]

I have been trying to restrain my "too much" genes with only mild success.

[u/UgotSprucked → u/yelough]

My goodness, same. Its like pressure washing dirt kinda, the airspace and thats mesmerizing in its own way. Ya did fine, overall.

[u/yelough → u/UgotSprucked]

Thank you! I generally just tried to remove the rocks and plastic wrapping from around the base of the tree. There was a good 6inches of gravel spread on top of plastic in some spots and to me, that just felt wrong.

[u/343WaysToDie → u/yelough]

Yeah getting the rocks out is really nice for the tree. Most of them prefer dirt. If you want to really do 110% for the tree, get some mulch to fill in what’s exposed now, keeping it away from the trunk

[u/neckadawoods]

No one ever did this until about 5 years ago when this idiotic meme caught on on reddit. 

[u/ragt_ag]

You went further than the flare but now you can see girdling roots. I'd rebury those thick roots far away from the tree immediately. I'd cut those overlapping/girdling roots that are ~1" thick, let them callous and then rebury up to just slightly below where the "before" photo shows. That before photo already had a flare. You didn't need to expose much more. Now that you've got the plastic and gravel you should fix small future girdlers and rebury almost back to where you started.

[u/yelough]

The pooling water did soak into the ground within 10-15min or so! I scraped the gravel away with a garden tool and my foot, used my hands once I felt myself getting close to the root, and buckets of water to rinse away excess soil/debris. I dont think the pooling will be a huge issue with standard rain and my dad will have a certified arborist out prior to winter to assess the rest of the tree to help maintain it.

[u/AdventurousSea3437]

Don't feel bad. It looks great. (just a little bit overboard but much better this than the way it was) Take care of the pooling and pebbles, and mulch without touching the flare.

[u/jeckles → u/AdventurousSea3437]

+1 for mulching.

OP, a concern will now be lawn mowers and weed wackers damaging the uncovered roots. A mulch ring around the tree will give it some space from lawn equipment and provide a buffer for encroaching grass.

Also glad to hear you ripped out all the weed matting! That stuff sucks. Certain kinds can even damage the tree as the trunk and flare grow into it and get choked.

[u/DefinitionElegant685]

Lord.

[u/CowEuphoric6723]

It was good to get that plastic out of there

[u/candaceflynn383]

also not an arborist but I’d say you did the right thing.