My husband and I had a month long debate about laying sod around our magnolia tree. Neither of us have any idea about gardening, trees, etc. We have a dog run that has just turned into mud over the years with a beautiful magnolia in the middle of it. After doing some research I read that completely covering the tree roots isn’t the best idea. I wanted to do a ~4 foot perimeter around the tree with some pea gravel but I lost the fight. The sod is currently getting laid down. Please tell me my tree will be okay!!!!
by SuccessSea1852
5 Comments
No grass under trees. Make a nice bed instead. Grass is hard for nutrients and water to penetrate, your tree will suffer to some degree. Could slowly kill it or could do not much, but the tree will suffer in some degree
Sod or gravel around the tree is not a good idea either. Should have a mulch ring around the tree without it touching the trunk. Gravel just heats up during summer. And sod i think competes with water from getting to the tree. Someone else could add more details. There are also some girdling roots from the pictures. You should see about removing that. I am not an expert. Just information from reading in this thread.
the tree will not die overnight
but YOUR idea was 300% better than his idea. but instead of pea gravel do mulch. since you just put it down, cutting a circle around the tree will be easy.
looks like there might be roots about to start girdling?
I’m replying for support & traffic – I am not an arborist and hopefully a tag chimes in to help you!
You could probably get away with 1-2 feet around as a compromise.
Grass isn’t ideal around the tree but so long as it’s not right up against the trunk it’s usually not a death sentence. If it was that bad for em we’d never have mature yard trees.
Your biggest issue is that a lawnmower or weed Wacker is gonna mess up the trunk. It’s inevitable with this. Yes, a large mulch ring would be best, but I’d be most concerned about someone trying to trim the grass and messing up the tree. Depending on the grass species, the grass won’t grow that great either with all the shade.