The picture attached shows a monkey puzzle tree in a parking lot. As you can see the roots are lifting the asphalt all around it. We have been asked to retain the tree. The trouble is that the parking lot renovations will add parking and curbs on 3 of the 4 sides of the tree which will require removal of the existing curb, asphalt and associated roots to accommodate regrading and parking lot installation. I am not familiar with how these trees react to disturbance and root cutting. Does anyone have any experience with this type of situation? Thank you.
I'll have to let someone with more experience chime in, but it looks to me like an inappropriate place to have planted the tree in the first place (a trend I've noticed in particular with monkey puzzle trees in the PNW). Not that my opinion is much help!
Can't count on improvements not killing the tree. Tree really needs to be given its own bed, larger than the space it has now, or be removed as part of the renovations. If there is a desire to maximize the number of stalls, there is not room for a tree of this size - if surviving the changes and other future occurrences will grow very much larger than it is now. That includes the root system.
mature monkey puzzle trees are quite attractive. Any mature tree is valuable. Have you considered hiring an arborist to visit the tree and advise you?
