The apple tree in my front yard somehow managed grow without a central leader but its very strange, it has 6 main branches all starting at the same point, about 3 feet above the ground. Ive been learning about primary trunk and root flare recently, do you have any knowledge of this? I just dug out the surface roots in six foot radius around the tree and cut out all the mess and choker roots
Root flares are part of the trunk, not of the root system, and should be exposed to the elements. Mulch around the tree should have a few inches of bare soil from any part of the trunk, to prevent boring insects and root collar rot. Surface roots are not a problem and shouldn't be cut. Cutting a surface root out will potentially also take out thousands of microscopic fine hair feeder roots, and the tree will correspondingly die back as its root mass was reduced. It then has disease pathways to damage the tree. I would only cut out surface roots if they were damaging a structure that was more important than the tree, with the concession that the tree may die. Suckers are completely different. These are new trees growing up from the same root system of the original tree. They will suck energy out of the main tree and should be removed at any time of season, as early as possible. They are removed by cutting them at ground level and avoiding damaging the main root. The other reason why they are bad is that most fruit trees are grafted. A tree with a strong root but poor fruit can be grown, and as soon as its trunk is pencil thickness, the genetics of a good fruiter is grafted on, creating a Frankenstein tree. The strong root genetics now anchor and feed the strong fruiting genetics. Since the suckers come from the root system, the resulting tree (if left to grow) will be the genetics of the root tree, which is typically poor for fruiting. So remove all suckers. Leave surface roots alone unless potential damage to valuable structures. And never cover up root flare with mulch (it is not root, it is trunk), and leave 3 inches of bare soil around the trunk to prevent boring insects and excess humitidy right at the trunk which can damage the tree. I think there is enough content in this for a future video, its always better to see it than just read it. Thanks for posting!
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy thanks for the reply, the only roots i cut out were roots that were wraping arround trunk and then there like a mat of fine hair roots alll tangled together... The trunk was getting mold because someone mulched about a foot up the trunk before but it was now. Turned to soil and grass took over
Great video , I was searching for hours for exactly this 😃👍
Excellent. Thanks.
Glad you liked it!
The apple tree in my front yard somehow managed grow without a central leader but its very strange, it has 6 main branches all starting at the same point, about 3 feet above the ground. Ive been learning about primary trunk and root flare recently, do you have any knowledge of this? I just dug out the surface roots in six foot radius around the tree and cut out all the mess and choker roots
Root flares are part of the trunk, not of the root system, and should be exposed to the elements. Mulch around the tree should have a few inches of bare soil from any part of the trunk, to prevent boring insects and root collar rot.
Surface roots are not a problem and shouldn't be cut. Cutting a surface root out will potentially also take out thousands of microscopic fine hair feeder roots, and the tree will correspondingly die back as its root mass was reduced. It then has disease pathways to damage the tree. I would only cut out surface roots if they were damaging a structure that was more important than the tree, with the concession that the tree may die.
Suckers are completely different. These are new trees growing up from the same root system of the original tree. They will suck energy out of the main tree and should be removed at any time of season, as early as possible. They are removed by cutting them at ground level and avoiding damaging the main root. The other reason why they are bad is that most fruit trees are grafted. A tree with a strong root but poor fruit can be grown, and as soon as its trunk is pencil thickness, the genetics of a good fruiter is grafted on, creating a Frankenstein tree. The strong root genetics now anchor and feed the strong fruiting genetics. Since the suckers come from the root system, the resulting tree (if left to grow) will be the genetics of the root tree, which is typically poor for fruiting.
So remove all suckers. Leave surface roots alone unless potential damage to valuable structures. And never cover up root flare with mulch (it is not root, it is trunk), and leave 3 inches of bare soil around the trunk to prevent boring insects and excess humitidy right at the trunk which can damage the tree.
I think there is enough content in this for a future video, its always better to see it than just read it. Thanks for posting!
@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy thanks for the reply, the only roots i cut out were roots that were wraping arround trunk and then there like a mat of fine hair roots alll tangled together... The trunk was getting mold because someone mulched about a foot up the trunk before but it was now. Turned to soil and grass took over
@@mordyfisher4269 Good stuff I'm sure the tree appreciates having you as its new steward.
do you have an update vid?
I did have a pruning guide exactly 1 uear after that one. I will do another this spring.