Fallen Tree Pulls Up Entire Lawn

[JAB]

[RS Wood]

Great picture - that root system must have been so, so shallow, and fibrous rather than a tap root. Wonder what effect the sod lawn had? Maybe the sod was laid over bad soil, so the roots stayed within the better soil of the sod than trying to descend into bad soil.

That guy is lucky the tree didn't take out his house.

[Huge]

[Thomas Prufer]

Sweep the dirt under it, put it back, done.

Thomas Prufer

[The Natural Philosopher]

Ash tree. That's what they do. wide and shallow, no 'tap root'

[Chris Green]

I don't think [m]any trees have tap roots do they? I've certainly never seen a fallen tree with other than spreading roots.

[Chris Hogg]

+1

Tree seedlings put down a tap root in the early stages of the tree's growth, but this soon changes to a horizontal root system and the tap root atrophies away.

[The Natural Philosopher]

well a few have a central section of roots that may go down a meter or two. It depends where the water and nutrients atre to be honest

[PeterC]

Possibly the fallen ones are those that don't have tap roots.

[tabbypurr]

NT

[harry]

Nothing to worry about then. All our ash trees are gonna die anyway due to some EUSSR disease.

[Weatherlawyer]

In good conditions, sycamore roots usually remain near the surface. Studies conducted by the Forestry Commission have found that, in most soils, the t ree?s roots extend no more than 6 feet below the ground ? a nd often no more than 3 to 4 feet. Sycamores often have aggressive surface roots that can crack sidewalks or interfere with mowing. Root Spread

Although the sycamore?s roots are shallow, they increase stability by extending a considerable distance laterally. Surface roots can extend as far as the spread of the canopy, which in mature trees is typically 50 to

70 feet across.

[Weatherlawyer]

If it is eucalyptus it is probably in Australia and hit by the resent storms there, as evinced by the angle of the for sale signe. If it was USA and you can geta date and location you can find out the meteorology from:

[The Natural Philosopher]

Ash is worse and willow ain't great

[RayL12]

I was doing a re-slate on a double story stone cottage that had vine covering the gable. The vine grew half way across the roof.

I decided to remove the vine first rather than remove the slates so, I was cutting with a slater's axe. A few feet from the gable edge the vine was an inch thick and as I was rolling it up towards the edge it made a roll of 3 foot diameter.

In ignorance I expected it to just fall to the floor. I boy, was I wrong. It took the whole outer skin of the wall down.

Of course, now when I see those beautiful country cottages, I have a whole different feeling of what looks nice.

[Another John]

:-) (or rather :-( , for you!)

I was doing some gardening for a bloke who lived in an old farmhouse. We discussed gardening matters, and agreed that ivy is the biggest bastard of weeds. 'In fact,' he said, 'that whole gable end of the house was covered with ivy at one time. It was so thick and tenacious that I tied it to my 4x4 and pulled the whole lot off in one go!'

"Hmm," I thought "that might explain the large bulge that that wall has in its upper half, and which he doesn't seem to have noticed yet"

Worst thing was: the bloke was renting the house from a man who works in the Gulf. Still -- it didn't collapse during the time I was working there.

J.

[Weatherlawyer]

Why did he think he had the right to do that on a rented property? Would you happen to know if the owner was insured against idiot tenants? And lastly how is the owner going to prove the bastard did the damage?

[Another John]

I don't think he thought -- he didn't seem the type.

j.