Imagine double dutch doors in a front living room opening onto a 15' x 20' deck with an 8' diameter circular cutout for a 5' - 6' diameter 100' tall redwood tree. It'll be like a whole new shaded room where we can sit under the tree and enjoy looking up into the branches. Now that's impossible because of how the 'woody base' slopes down from the trunk. I don't foresee airflow or watering problems. Would it hurt the tree to cut perhaps 4 or 5 one inch wide and about five inch long slots into the woody base about two feet from the trunk for the deck footings? What is the wood base called? It sure puts out a lot of green shoots all year that I cut with a weed whacker, and it seems pretty 'burley'. Ha ha! I've been reading about root problems in these forums, heck my 100' tall tree is 6' from my living room wall and if there's ever a problem I'll rebuild the foundation to arch over the ground bulge, no big deal.
Do not cut out sections of the trunk to make room for seating! This will do it no good. Also consider that the trunk will increase in diameter for as long as the tree lives, and that the trunk moves in high winds.
The cuts wouldn't be on the trunk but a few feet out on the burl-like wood that surrounds the trunk. All I'm saying is that after living/gardening around the tree for 20 years now it seems that that particular part of the tree is pretty sturdy... heck I think I could take a pickaxe to it and all that would happen is that new sprouts would pop out of the holes within weeks! I might be dead wrong though eh? As far as trunk diameter growth goes, there will be at least 1.5 - 2 feet of space between the trunk and the edge of the deck cutout. That should give me years before the hole will need to be enlarged, no? Oh yeah, the base of the trunk doesn't move even in gales; this tree is huge! When I bought the house 20 years ago that 'woody base' surrounding the trunk supported hedge-like greenery that was 6' tall and extended out about 5'; all the way around the tree. I didn't like the way it looked and that's the origin of the pickaxe comment. I vaguely remember having to work really hard to cut the hedge down to that base. I'm sure I gouged the wood pretty badly with whatever I used to cut the 'mini trees' making up the hedge and it didn't seem to hurt the tree at all. I guess I would like to know how finicky these wonders of nature are on that part of the tree. What's it's function anyway? Is it like a burl? Thanks for all of your knowledge folks!
