Construction Impact to Trees Part VI

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On many construction projects there are often trees that are not anywhere near the actual area of construction. Do to limited space however; building material storage, equipment and crew parking may end up happening all around them. These trees can easily be impacted from these seemly innocent activities. While they look fine above the ground, their root zone can greatly suffer from soil compaction. As odd as it may seem, even foot traffic can cause soil compaction. Healthy soil is composed of 60 % solids such as rock, sand, clay, loam etc. The rest is pore space consisting of liquids and gases. This pore space is important for soil to breath or exchange gas as well as infiltrate water. Compaction greatly reduces pore space in soil. Less pore space means diminished amounts of water and oxygen for tree roots to grow. Imagine a trees root system that grew many years in an empty lot, its roots growing at a healthy rate in the soil. Suddenly a large multi family unit building is being constructed nearby. Now pickups, construction equipment and literally a ton of foot traffic is crossing the root plate of this tree ten to twelve hours a day. We have all seen it. The once supple soil is now hard, rutted and there are mud puddles everywhere. The puddles are the real sign that the ground is severely compacted and pore space is so significantly reduced that the water is unable to penetrate or even seep in. This tree will undergo some serious decline in the future growing seasons if some measures are not performed to improve the health of the soil. While reversing soil compaction is a separate topic, I want to offer a simple and inexpensive solution that can be done as a preventive. Lay down some landscape fabric and then apply six to eight inches of wood chips. This will distribute the weight of work trucks, equipment and foot traffic. It is much less labor intensive and inexpensive compared to reversing soil compaction and dealing with its impact to trees down the road.

A few final tips next week! As always, thank you for following and if you have further questions, need a quote or consultation, give us a call today!