Appreciation: silver maple question

Discussion in 'Maples' started by kakassmann, Aug 2, 2013.

  1. kakassmann

    kakassmann New Member

    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    city
    I have a very large approx 50-60 year old silver maple tree. I recently had our entire yard excavated,recontoured,grass stripped,topsoil brought in and grass replanted. The landscaper used a bobcat and covered the tree's protruding roots with clay like soil and topsoil. He put 4-5 inches on the roots all the way up to the trunk.
    After about 3-4 weeks we noticed the leaves on the top of the tree starting to look curled and gray. We want to save the tree. What can we do?We started scraping all soil off the roots. Can we do anything else. Thanks!![/SEARCH]
     
  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

    Messages:
    21,250
    Likes Received:
    786
    Location:
    WA USA (Z8)
    Cuts and fills are a great way to kill trees. Have one or more consulting arborists come out and give opinions. As silver maples are prone to breakage to begin with you want to anticipate impending failure and have it removed before it starts to break apart, if there is anything that would be damaged or destroyed should that happen.
     
  3. maf

    maf Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

    Messages:
    2,116
    Likes Received:
    1,874
    Location:
    Northamptonshire, England
    What Ron said, but in addition.....

    Doesn't sound good from that description. How close was the excavation to the tree? Was it all around the tree or only on one or two sides?

    You did the right thing by removing the excess soil, there is not much more can be done but wait and see. The long term prognosis all depends on how much of the rootzone of the tree was killed by the excavation. The rootzone would have been a disc about one foot deep extending all around the tree to a distance further than the longest branches.
     
  4. kakassmann

    kakassmann New Member

    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    city
    Thanks for your respose. There was not really any digging right around the tree, mainly it was soil added above the roots that were exposed. The landscaper addwd about 2-5 inches of clay soil and then 2-3 inches of topsoil and the planted grass.

    We think the roots were covered too much and we have dug alot of the dirt out but the tree already looks withered at the top. We are not sure if it is dying or stressed out.

    Thanks again for your response
     

Share This Page