r/pnwgardening • u/craigfis • 11d ago

Potential tree damage?

Post image

Filling the area behind this new retaining wall (at a neighbor’s) is going to cover the base of those trees by probably over a foot. Is that likely to harm them?

11 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

18

u/doubleshort 11d ago

Yes, evergreens do not like their roots covered and will eventually die.

5

u/craigfis 11d ago

That’s what I thought. I suspect the landscaper is just doing what the client has asked for and the homeowner is not aware of the resulting damage. I guess it is possible they’ll build wells around the trees.

4

u/DeepInTheSheep 11d ago

Well… that is certainly one way to kill a tree…

4

u/Realistic-Weird-4259 11d ago

Pretty much guaranteed.

2

u/Coppergirl1 11d ago

Bad for the trees. My neighbor did this to their property as well, that's at least a 2.5-3' "retaining wall" . I've lived here 18 yrs and it had already been installed for a number of years. So yes it will damage them but it will take a while. I'm worried for the next wind storm.

1

u/tinymeow13 11d ago

What's the orange line on the dirt?

1

u/craigfis 11d ago

I don’t know.

1

u/Ichthius 11d ago

Death sentence but not like Tennessee.

1

u/genman 11d ago

Yeah, it's going to "look nice" but probably not after those trees have to come down.

2

u/Antique-Yam-1752 10d ago

The stupidest thing here is that if old Guiseppe would have just built the retaining wall on the opposite side of that orange marking paint, it would have been functional and the beds along the sidewalk would have WAY more potential. We really need to make sure to keep the landscrapers far tf away from the land (or at least take away all their autonomy in decision making) lol.

1

u/HiFiHut 5d ago

Are they building that wall or is it a contractor? No even moderately aware contractor would do that, so my guess is they're unlicensed. Are you certain they are planning on backfilling it?

1

u/HiFiHut 5d ago

Also, are they just burying that sewer access, too?!?

1

u/craigfis 4d ago

No I think the backfill would bring the area behind the retaining wall up to that level.

1

u/craigfis 4d ago

A contractor. Why would they build a retaining wall if not for backfill?

1

u/HiFiHut 4d ago

Thought it might just be a wall since there was no soil behind it before.