A guy who said he was an arborist came out to give us a quote on trimming this tree, dunno why they sent an arborist and tree had to get trimmed for insurance purposes, and he was in love. Said it is a white oak at least 100 years old.
We’re doing an addition just a little bigger than what part of the deck is removed and digging that up for part of the basement in the photos and he said it will kill enough of the feeder roots that the tree will die in a few years. He then sent a quote on how to prevent that. Is he just trying to sell us stuff or is he correct? Below is what the quote says for treatment.
Plant Health Care
Nutrient Treatments
$836.00
• ArborKelp Biostimulant
$418.00 X2
Treatment Plus – Mia Season
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This unique biostimulant consists of sea kelp that is introduced into the soil through hydraulic action PLUS
additional additives as prescribed by your Arborist. Highly recommended for stressed trees/ shrubs and trees/shrubs which were weakened as a result of construction, insect damage or transplant shock. Service Details: 50 inch white Oak back add ristora
by AmazingBoysenberry3
4 Comments
The company was SavATree and their reviews are less than stellar on here.
Nutrient treatments without a soil test? Bushit.
I agree with the previous comment. Arborist are trained to know to do a soil analysis and tissue analysis first to identify any deficiencies before they prescribed nutrient amendments and treatments. However, it doesn’t look like more than a quarter of its Peter Roots were removed or damaged so the tree should be fine. It may suffer on one side of that vascular system for a while before it replaces them.
If your excavating for a basement that close to the trunk (~3 metres?) you really want someone qualified AND experienced with root pruning. You’ll likely come across at least a couple of substantial roots (>100mm). If the excavator hooks one and tears it back to the trunk you’ll have a problem. Someone needs to be onsite during the excavation to do a clean cut on any substantial roots as they’re discovered.
Beyond that I would possibly recommend some coring of the remaining root plate to stimulate new root grow and ensure good conditions for the remaining roots.
We transplanted mature trees on a daily basis and rarely applied any sort of treatments. As others have mentioned, you need to establish an actual deficiency before you can attempt to treat it.
We did use a Seasol like product but anyone can buy that and you simply mix it with water and apply it to the root plate. It shouldn’t cost $836. Importantly, Seasol is NOT a fertilizer. It provides a nice environment for roots and the mycorrhizae they depend on. 20L of Seasol is about $250 AUD and should be enough to treat all of your trees and most of your neighbors trees for the next year or two.