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A Canadian doctor named Locke used to ascribe most human ailments to deformations of the feet, brought on by wearing badly designed shoes. Some dendrologists similarly believe that more tree ailments than we suspect are caused by root deformations. Commonest of these, and easiest to discover and correct, are so-called "girdling" roots, where one crosses and constricts another close to the trunk, or constricts the trunk itself. The effect on the tree's circulation is precisely that of a tourniquet around your leg, or a noose at your neck. Any home owner with a pick and shovel can expose such conditions for himself. When they are not visible above ground, their presence can be suspected wherever one side of a trunk comes up straight out of the ground without the flare of buttress roots. For a typical case of detection and exposure, see Photos. 3, 4, 5. Without benefit of a trained tree surgeon, the offending root can simply be dug around and cut away from its victim for several inches on both sides of the stricture. If it is a big root, six inches or so in diameter, the operation is best performed in two stages to lessen shock to the tree. The trick here is to use a chisel instead of saw or ax. First cut away the under half of the constrictor, to relieve its pressure yet let some of its own sap supply continue. (See Fig. 2.)
Complete the operation a couple of seasons later, meantime stimulating an adjusted root growth by well-placed feeding. |
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