Sycamore dying and heaped/raised soil

[countrryboy]

Alright folks.

 

Was just wondering if there is anything i can do to stop some Sycamore dying.

Its a relatively new barn conversion and they had to alter the ground level fairly drastically to put a new farm road in on a step slope, soil hieght could have been raised by 6-10 ft round the stems/butt.

 

Quite a few of the sycamore are already dead with most off the others not looking too healthy, leaves starting to have a black tinge round edges and begining to wilt.

I'm persuming its the raised soil around the stems as seemingly sycamore a fairly succeptabile to this thats killing them.

 

Is there anything i can do to attempt to save the rest of the trees?

Some ash growing along side seem to be thriving

 

Cheers

[monkeybusiness]

Dig out the soil (carefully!) to the original ground level, radially air spade (like spokes of a wheel) the affected root system, back fill with a good mulch. Or fell them and sell the logs!

[countrryboy]

Cheers monkey business.

 

He does have his own digger and is pretty good in it but the lawn is fairly niice on top now, plus i'd say u will be dealing with a lot of soil.

 

Wot is it that kills them, the lack of air to roots or lack of water?

Last year was the first year they started dying but was unusually dry, could it be that over te few years been buried now used up all the water down at that level 6+ft down?

 

If he dug a small hole up hill from the root ball to sink a piece of pipe down to root level and then watered the trees would that help? Or would the ammount of water they need just be ridiculas

[Goaty]

I chipped a pile in woodland three years ago. Had little room to operate in, one sycamore ended up being surrounded at its base in woodchip. I t was dead in less than 18 months. It was only a young one probably 8 inch diameter.

 

It seems they like to have airflow. Also they are very suseptible to fungi attack. Ask a sawmiller they will tell you its a pig to season.

 

I think at best you have logs.

[Craig Johnson]

Yes but it would be a waste of time, if your not going to fix the thing that's killing it in the first place

[countrryboy]

Cheers folks, i'll just knock them over as and when then, think most will be dead by end of this summer by the look of them. They've got a log burner anyway so will all go to a good use

[treeseer]

...and they will have a bigger lawn to mow, too!

 

Roots are alive. Roots need air to breathe. Roots need water to drink.

[bolthole]

It's lack of air.

 

Tree roots live (mostly) in the top 18 inches of the soil; change this by much (even a foot) and you pretty much cut off the air supply.

 

Game over.