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Old 09-25-2015, 01:56 PM
 
Location: San Francisco, CA & Sharon, VT
168 posts, read 285,731 times
Reputation: 395

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Quote:
Originally Posted by southernnaturelover View Post
Wait until they're going dormant and shedding leaves, then dig them up and straighten the roots. I doubt they have rooted into the surrounding soil in just two weeks.

Personally I wouldn't keep the Norway Maple since its listed as an invasive species.
Ha! That was my first reaction when I read the species - "well first you'll want to cut down the Norway maple..."

As for the roots - they are months away from working their way out to the surrounding soil, and yes root girdling / root strangulation is a major cause of the death of trees purchased from nurseries. So you definitely want to make sure there are no circular roots - particularly closer to the surface and closer to the trunk.
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Old 09-25-2015, 02:02 PM
 
Location: San Francisco, CA & Sharon, VT
168 posts, read 285,731 times
Reputation: 395
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemlock140 View Post
Can you recall how much the roots were visibly running around the outside of the pots? If they were in the pots a long time and tight, you will have problems. If the roots were barely visible and there was soft soil falling off when you pulled off the pot, they will most likely be OK.
The thing is, there could be inner knotted or circling roots, not visible from the outside of the root ball - for example, the nursery might have grown the tree in a 6" pot, and left it in there too long - roots grew in circles that will eventually strangle themselves... but this spring they put it in a 12" pot with new soil, so when someone buys the plant at the end of summer and you pull it out of the 12" pot, all you see is soil and some nice tendrils of non-circling roots... but inside, there's still the corkscrew from the 6" pot.

To be clear - I'm not saying every nursery does this, or even most. I'm just saying that you have to be careful, and in particular examine the roots around the base of the trunk (wash away some dirt if you can) - do the roots go outward through the whole root ball, or do they maybe circle or turn as though the tree was stuck in a smaller pot at some point?
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Old 09-25-2015, 03:25 PM
 
8,573 posts, read 12,405,577 times
Reputation: 16527
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ted Bear View Post
Especially if you did not fall victim to the "mulch volcano" your trees should grow well. If you did that, and left the roots pretty tightly wound, all bets are off.
Ha! That's an appropriate term. That is clearly one of the worst landscaping practices I see nowadays--and it is very commonplace. Such a large mound of mulch encourages roots to grow near the surface and it tends to weaken trees. In one particular housing subdivision, I've seen numerous trees die after only a few years of being piled high with mulch. The HOA doesn't know any better and they just allow their landscaper to do whatever he wants. What lame brain came up with that idea?
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Old 09-25-2015, 08:37 PM
 
Location: Floribama
18,949 posts, read 43,596,850 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jackmichigan View Post
Ha! That's an appropriate term. That is clearly one of the worst landscaping practices I see nowadays--and it is very commonplace. Such a large mound of mulch encourages roots to grow near the surface and it tends to weaken trees. In one particular housing subdivision, I've seen numerous trees die after only a few years of being piled high with mulch. The HOA doesn't know any better and they just allow their landscaper to do whatever he wants. What lame brain came up with that idea?
It also settles into a tight mat which makes water just bead up and roll right off of it, no chance of it reaching the soil.
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Old 09-25-2015, 08:46 PM
 
653 posts, read 782,681 times
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My neighbor suggested I top them off with mulch, but I didn't. I just dumped top soil and only top soil.
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Old 09-26-2015, 06:17 AM
 
Location: Floribama
18,949 posts, read 43,596,850 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keeros318 View Post
My neighbor suggested I top them off with mulch, but I didn't. I just dumped top soil and only top soil.
A little mulch is fine, just as long as it's not piled up.
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Old 09-29-2015, 09:39 AM
 
Location: Land of Free Johnson-Weld-2016
6,470 posts, read 16,398,566 times
Reputation: 6520
Norway maple is an invasive plant that will self seed everywhere. OK many maples do this, but it leafs out early and when it gets into natural areas, which it does via its copious seeds...it keeps native plants from growing and takes over their habitat.



Also because it leafs out early and has very thirsty surface-growing roots, it is really hard to grow anything under a norway maple. Take the norway maple back. Why are they still selling these

By the way guys, some university did a study on the best way to correct girdling roots. What works best is "box cut." http://blog-yard-garden-news.extensi...nd-plants.html
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