Very long tree root found

[LeeOulton]

Hi all, I've recently had a conservatory built and to save on a bit of money I chose to dig out the foundations myself. During the dig I pulled up a large root which was almost the whole length of my garden once pulled up! Around 10m long. I thought it was an old cable at first. No trees in the area as its a fairly new built estate within the last 6 years. Any ideas why is is so long? It looked fresh when cut out. It was like a big piece of rope, I tied a knot in some of it and hung it on the fence..

 

Confused...

[treeseer]

try the scratch and sniff test. many general or even species have very distinctive smells.

[Gollum]

Old man's beard buried under top soil on completion of build.

[mdvaden]

Hi all, I've recently had a conservatory built and to save on a bit of money I chose to dig out the foundations myself. During the dig I pulled up a large root which was almost the whole length of my garden once pulled up! Around 10m long. I thought it was an old cable at first. No trees in the area as its a fairly new built estate within the last 6 years. Any ideas why is is so long? It looked fresh when cut out. It was like a big piece of rope, I tied a knot in some of it and hung it on the fence..

 

Confused...

 

10 m seems in line with how long roots can grow, even for medium size trees.

 

Whether lawns are watered and how dense soil is also seems to affect affect growth like length or depth that the roots at.

 

...

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

theres a great shot in the new veteran tree guide showing a man standing some 50 metres from an oak in a field thats just been ploughed for the first time, this meant the roots could be found in situ.