Just found out root flare depth is way more important than I ever thought

I was digging around a red maple I planted 3 years ago in my front yard in Columbus, Ohio. Noticed it was looking a bit sad last summer but I just chalked it up to the drought. I watched a YouTube video from an old arborist out of Oregon and he kept talking about how the root flare has to be visible above soil. So I dug down about 4 inches around the trunk and sure enough the root flare was buried deep. That tree was suffocating down there. I must have planted it wrong from the start. I spent last weekend carefully shaving off soil and mulch around the base. Has anyone else dealt with a tree you planted too deep? What happened when you fixed it?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordan3053d ago

I had the exact same thing happen with a silver maple I planted back in 2018 over here in Hilliard. Dug down almost 5 inches before I hit the actual root flare and felt like a complete idiot standing there with a shovel. My tree was looking so pitiful that summer, yellow leaves dropping in July, and I nearly paid a guy $300 to come look at it before I saw that same Oregon arborist channel. After I uncovered the flare and took away the excess soil it put out a ton of new growth by the next spring. I guess the moral is I spent my whole life thinking I knew how to plant a tree and it turns out I was basically drowning them from day one.

wendy2053d agoMost Upvoted

That old Oregon guy is great but he glosses over the fact that Columbus has heavy clay soil that holds water like crazy. I uncovered my pear tree's root flare two years ago and it perked up, but I also had to mix in some composted bark to keep it from drowning when it rains for a week straight.