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Here is how you can arrange a [consult with a local ISA arborist in your area](http://www.treesaregood.org/findanarborist/findanarborist) (NOT a ‘tree company guy’ unless they’re ISA certified) or a [consulting arborist](https://www.asca-consultants.org/search/custom.asp?id=3818) for an on-site evaluation. A competent arborist should be happy to walk you through how to care for the trees on your property and answer any questions. If you’re in the U.S. or Canada, your Extension (or master gardener provincial program) may have a list of local recommended arborists on file. If you’re in the U.S., you should also consider searching for arborist associations under your state.
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spiceydog
Presuming that those roots are newly exposed during your work here, those are definitely adventitious roots that formed due to those areas having been buried improperly up until this point. Sometimes growth of these roots can happen in It would be a good idea to hold off cutting anything until you’ve fully exposed the flare, if you’re able. It doesn’t look like you have much farther to go given the noticeable widening of the taper of that base, so pretty soon you’ll be seeing much larger structural roots. Here’s my copypasta on this (if you haven’t seen it already):
To understand what it means to expose your root flare, do a subreddit search in r/arborists, r/tree, r/sfwtrees or r/marijuanaenthusiasts using the term root flare; there will be a lot of posts where this has been done on young and old trees. You’ll know you’ve found it when you see **outward taper at the base of the tree** from vertical to the horizontal, **and the tops of large, structural roots**. Here’s[ a post from last year](https://old.reddit.com/r/arborists/comments/vn492d/) for an example of what finding the flare will look like. Here’s another [post from two years back about this](https://old.reddit.com/r/arborists/comments/jgnhji/rate_my_root_flare/); note that this poster found bundles of adventitious roots before they got to the flare, like those fibrous roots you’re seeing now (theirs was an apple tree) and a clear structural root which is visible in the last pic in the gallery.
See also our [ wiki ‘Happy Trees’](https://old.reddit.com/r/arborists/wiki/happy_trees) root flare excavations section for more excellent and inspirational work, and the main wiki for a fuller explanation on planting depth/root flare exposure, proper mulching, watering, pruning and more.
2 Comments
Welcome to r/arborists! Help Us Help You: If you have questions about the health of your tree, please see our [Posting Guidelines](https://old.reddit.com/r/arborists/wiki/posting_guidance) wiki page for help with effective posting. **Please answer the questions listed there to the best of your ability.** ***Insufficient pics/info will will likely result in the removal of your post!!*** ([See rule 3](https://www.reddit.com/r/arborists/about/rules).)
Visit the main wiki page for [Critical Planting/Care tips and Common Errors to Avoid](https://old.reddit.com/r/arborists/wiki/index); there’s sections on why planting depth/root flare exposure is so vital, along with sections on proper mulching, watering, pruning and more that I hope will be useful to you.
If you’re posting about a tree ID (not permitted here; [see rule 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/arborists/about/rules)), see that wiki page for other subs and smartphone apps to try.
Here is how you can arrange a [consult with a local ISA arborist in your area](http://www.treesaregood.org/findanarborist/findanarborist) (NOT a ‘tree company guy’ unless they’re ISA certified) or a [consulting arborist](https://www.asca-consultants.org/search/custom.asp?id=3818) for an on-site evaluation. A competent arborist should be happy to walk you through how to care for the trees on your property and answer any questions. If you’re in the U.S. or Canada, your Extension (or master gardener provincial program) may have a list of local recommended arborists on file. If you’re in the U.S., you should also consider searching for arborist associations under your state.
If you are one of our regs and/or you work in the industry and do not want this message in your future posts, please pick an appropriate user flair (options available in the sub sidebar on PC, and on moble if using a browser).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/arborists) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Presuming that those roots are newly exposed during your work here, those are definitely adventitious roots that formed due to those areas having been buried improperly up until this point. Sometimes growth of these roots can happen in It would be a good idea to hold off cutting anything until you’ve fully exposed the flare, if you’re able. It doesn’t look like you have much farther to go given the noticeable widening of the taper of that base, so pretty soon you’ll be seeing much larger structural roots. Here’s my copypasta on this (if you haven’t seen it already):
To understand what it means to expose your root flare, do a subreddit search in r/arborists, r/tree, r/sfwtrees or r/marijuanaenthusiasts using the term root flare; there will be a lot of posts where this has been done on young and old trees. You’ll know you’ve found it when you see **outward taper at the base of the tree** from vertical to the horizontal, **and the tops of large, structural roots**. Here’s[ a post from last year](https://old.reddit.com/r/arborists/comments/vn492d/) for an example of what finding the flare will look like. Here’s another [post from two years back about this](https://old.reddit.com/r/arborists/comments/jgnhji/rate_my_root_flare/); note that this poster found bundles of adventitious roots before they got to the flare, like those fibrous roots you’re seeing now (theirs was an apple tree) and a clear structural root which is visible in the last pic in the gallery.
See also our [ wiki ‘Happy Trees’](https://old.reddit.com/r/arborists/wiki/happy_trees) root flare excavations section for more excellent and inspirational work, and the main wiki for a fuller explanation on planting depth/root flare exposure, proper mulching, watering, pruning and more.
Great work so far! Keep going! 👍