Just replanted a 6-year-old pin oak that was buried under 4 inches of dirt

I was called to a job site in Cincinnati last week where a homeowner thought their tree was dying. Turns out the nursery had buried the root flare deep and the trunk was rotting. I dug it up, cleaned the roots, and reset it at the right height. How often do you guys see this with nursery stock trees?

2 comments

2 Comments

lily_sullivan828h ago

I've seen that exact thing so many times around here in the Louisville area. I mean, just last spring I dug into a client's yard and found a 10 year old red maple that had the root flare buried a good 5 inches down, bark was all soft and rotting at the base. It's crazy how often nurseries just pile on the dirt without thinking about the long term damage it does. Idk if it's just a lazy way to get trees looking tall in the pot or what, but it's crazy common.

jackson.wesley3h ago

Man, that part about the bark being soft and rotting really hit home for me. I pulled a bur oak out of a client's backyard a couple years ago that was planted the same way, root flare buried deep, and the whole trunk base was just mush when I finally dug it down to the real roots. It's one of those things where you can tell the tree was doomed from day one but nobody noticed until it started leaning after a storm. I think you're right about nurseries trying to make the trees look taller in the pot, plus it saves them a little space in the growing field. I've seen it with a lot of the big box store maples and oaks around here too. Just feels like nobody's looking out for the tree ten years down the road.