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Woodland Beech colonised by Meripilus giganteus and early Kretzschmaria deusta presence. Soil is bagshot sand over clay. Path heavily compacted by regular footfall of dog walkers and runners. Canopy showing signs of dysfunction predominantly on the path side of the tree. (reduced by 3m to limit wind load) Assessment of path compaction undertaken using basic penetrometer. dropping weight at 1m increments from tree out toward drip line across path and also on opposite side of the root plate. Variable readings (from 2 - 10cm penetration) but basically confirmed that the path was the most compacted area. We then fired up the airspade to assess the roots within 3 trial pits. One in the middle of the path and the other two off the path either side of the tree. Unsuprisingly the pit in the middle of path took 30mins to excavate and had limited roots in whereas the other two pits were opened to the same extent within 10mins and had significantly more roots in. In conclusion we believe the path compaction has led to the root dysfunction, developing ideal conditions for the Meripilus colonisation. We are now considering path diversion or spreading the footfall weight at this and other similar tree locations across the site. .
