Plumbing company said they would hand dig and avoid tree roots to replace the sewer line between two 30 year old oak trees… this is what they did. Are both trees dead? Do I have any chance?
For the record, I know I’m an idiot. I feel so incredibly guilty for allowing this to happen. They kept telling me that the trees would absolutely be fine.
Dangerous_Option_447
Nah, the tree might have a hard year next year, but I guess it will recover. We took over a house where a beech had similar treatment, but now five years later, it is well off again.
Edit: Maybe be prepared to nurse it a bit with some mulch next year, to make it easier for it to maintain water. Depends on climate and weather, of course.
Maddd_illie
They got into the structural root plate there, ruh roh
Temporary_Cat7265
Cambistat. Rainbow tree care. Common name paclobutrazol
Ruser8050
Likely will be fine, I’ve seen much worse where the tree recovers.
Jrobzin
Yea I’m not an arborist but a professional horticulturist- I’d second the comments above and say that you should be fine with some special attention to it next season, and I would suggest a fungicidal root drench focusing on the cut areas plus supplemental fertilizer and water next season. I would also definitely recommend taking the arborist assessment and reassess in a year or two.
wvit1001
It’ll be ok. Digging down one side of a well established tree like that isn’t a big deal. Throw out some fertilizer this winter. I’m a engineer whose put in a lot of sidewalks and storm drains and I’ve seen lots of trees dug up like this that haven’t had a problem.
Whatsthat1972
I’m betting those trees shrug that off like nothing. It’s only a small part of their root systems. Don’t do anything. You don’t have to spend any money. You don’t need an “arborist “(unless you want them taken down). Years ago when I was hit with oak wilt, trenching was done to isolate the root system. It was done with a bulldozer mounted hoe that went into the ground 4-5 feet. This was done by the university forestry department. This was done all around the tree. It didn’t bother these oaks, although the trenching was farther away than yours. But again, yours is just a small area.
crochetymagpie
Thank you all for the responses, I am have been catastrophizing a bit. I need to schedule an arborist to do some canopy thinning on these and a third oak on the other side, so I’ll ask them for an assessment while they are out anyways.
You all made me feel so much better and hopefully these trees will stay for longer than even I will.
BuckManscape
This is actually not too bad for plumbers. Most companies would’ve just dug a trench with an excavator, roots be damned.
NewAlexandria
If they wrote a quote where they would hand-dig, and an ISA-TRAQ arborist gives you a written report of a risk of death for the tree, then you have a /r/treelaw basis for breach of contract and the possible scope of damages.
Disastrous-Place7353
I feel your pain.
Creative_Syllabub_13
Earth anchors will solve your stability issues. They need to be jack hammered in so check for services first.
The bigger roots nearer to the trunk should be clean cut and potentially sprayed with something like auxinone to ensure healing and regrowth.
Other than that some supplemental water and hope for the best.
I don’t know anything about the species or your environment so I have no idea about the chances of problems.
northman46
Good chance the trees will be ok. Back some years ago we were connected to city water and sewer. An artist wit an digger machine went by three trees to get it installed with a trench that was at least 6 feet deep
All three are still fine today, two silver maple’s and an ash
Tight_Morning_6501
Try your best to do nothing. Next spring, you could spread some mulch to help fertilize but the tree is in stress or both trees or stressed and let the tree fix itself. I would have an ISA certified Traq come out and give you an assessment so if the trees do fail, then possibly you could have a Replacement cost to the plumbing company?
Powerful_Jah_2014
Was this a private company who did this?Or was it a utility company with easement? If it was an easement, then you may not have any recourse. If it was a private company, then document everything meticulously because you may need to sue them down the road.
Creative_Syllabub_13
I think the duckbill 138’s are good for about 2t load each. You could probably share two between the two trees.
It’s still worth getting someone to make a proper assessment and hopefully give the plumbers a bit of an earfull.
Guineakr
Weird, only less than 1″ roots cut from the pictures, I guess people are seeing something that isn’t there. 100000% chance those trees will survive and be fine, even without any “care” other than putting the soil back and keeping it watered more than it would get from nature
Firm-Brother2580
Giant-ass oak trees aren’t as fragile as you think. More than likely they will shrug this off and carry on with a small blip in there growth next year. If you call out and arborist, they’ll likely recommend removal, because they usually do as a CYA, or they work for a tree removal company.
19 Comments
For the record, I know I’m an idiot. I feel so incredibly guilty for allowing this to happen. They kept telling me that the trees would absolutely be fine.
Nah, the tree might have a hard year next year, but I guess it will recover. We took over a house where a beech had similar treatment, but now five years later, it is well off again.
Edit: Maybe be prepared to nurse it a bit with some mulch next year, to make it easier for it to maintain water. Depends on climate and weather, of course.
They got into the structural root plate there, ruh roh
Cambistat. Rainbow tree care. Common name paclobutrazol
Likely will be fine, I’ve seen much worse where the tree recovers.
Yea I’m not an arborist but a professional horticulturist- I’d second the comments above and say that you should be fine with some special attention to it next season, and I would suggest a fungicidal root drench focusing on the cut areas plus supplemental fertilizer and water next season. I would also definitely recommend taking the arborist assessment and reassess in a year or two.
It’ll be ok. Digging down one side of a well established tree like that isn’t a big deal. Throw out some fertilizer this winter. I’m a engineer whose put in a lot of sidewalks and storm drains and I’ve seen lots of trees dug up like this that haven’t had a problem.
I’m betting those trees shrug that off like nothing. It’s only a small part of their root systems. Don’t do anything. You don’t have to spend any money. You don’t need an “arborist “(unless you want them taken down). Years ago when I was hit with oak wilt, trenching was done to isolate the root system. It was done with a bulldozer mounted hoe that went into the ground 4-5 feet. This was done by the university forestry department. This was done all around the tree. It didn’t bother these oaks, although the trenching was farther away than yours. But again, yours is just a small area.
Thank you all for the responses, I am have been catastrophizing a bit. I need to schedule an arborist to do some canopy thinning on these and a third oak on the other side, so I’ll ask them for an assessment while they are out anyways.
You all made me feel so much better and hopefully these trees will stay for longer than even I will.
This is actually not too bad for plumbers. Most companies would’ve just dug a trench with an excavator, roots be damned.
If they wrote a quote where they would hand-dig, and an ISA-TRAQ arborist gives you a written report of a risk of death for the tree, then you have a /r/treelaw basis for breach of contract and the possible scope of damages.
I feel your pain.
Earth anchors will solve your stability issues. They need to be jack hammered in so check for services first.
The bigger roots nearer to the trunk should be clean cut and potentially sprayed with something like auxinone to ensure healing and regrowth.
Other than that some supplemental water and hope for the best.
I don’t know anything about the species or your environment so I have no idea about the chances of problems.
Good chance the trees will be ok. Back some years ago we were connected to city water and sewer. An artist wit an digger machine went by three trees to get it installed with a trench that was at least 6 feet deep
All three are still fine today, two silver maple’s and an ash
Try your best to do nothing. Next spring, you could spread some mulch to help fertilize but the tree is in stress or both trees or stressed and let the tree fix itself. I would have an ISA certified Traq come out and give you an assessment so if the trees do fail, then possibly you could have a Replacement cost to the plumbing company?
Was this a private company who did this?Or was it a utility company with easement? If it was an easement, then you may not have any recourse. If it was a private company, then document everything meticulously because you may need to sue them down the road.
I think the duckbill 138’s are good for about 2t load each. You could probably share two between the two trees.
It’s still worth getting someone to make a proper assessment and hopefully give the plumbers a bit of an earfull.
Weird, only less than 1″ roots cut from the pictures, I guess people are seeing something that isn’t there. 100000% chance those trees will survive and be fine, even without any “care” other than putting the soil back and keeping it watered more than it would get from nature
Giant-ass oak trees aren’t as fragile as you think. More than likely they will shrug this off and carry on with a small blip in there growth next year. If you call out and arborist, they’ll likely recommend removal, because they usually do as a CYA, or they work for a tree removal company.