Girdling Roots

The injury or death of trees and shrubbery from roots girdling their stems is becoming almost as bad a problem as volcano mulching and poor pruning.

The USDA-FS recently published a list of the major causes of girdling root problems. At the top of the list was container grown plants.

Here is the rest of the list:

• Soil obstructions (i.e., hard-pan, compaction, etc.,),
• Improper root cutting (either during nursery harvesting or during construction activities)
• Burial (too deep planting)
• Volcano mulching
• Berms and saucers (built too high or too low during plant installation)
• Multi-stem plants (too little room between stems for roots to grow)
• Nearby trees (competition from other roots and stems)