After that oak fell, my crew is split on whether it was the root pruning or the dry spell.

Some guys say we cut too deep, others argue the weather did it, so what's your take?

3 comments

3 Comments

Could it be both? I mean, root pruning messes with the anchor, and a dry spell just pushes it over the edge. Trees fail when they get hit with too much at once.

lee.karen20h ago

Tara642, you say root pruning messes with the anchor, but I've seen trees deal with much worse without falling. In my area, they cut roots for sidewalks often, and most trees stay up even in dry spells. Maybe we're making too much of this. Trees have survived droughts forever, and urban ones are used to tough conditions.

murphy.aaron22h ago

Back in the 2015 drought in California, trees near sidewalks failed more often... not just from dry spells, but from how the concrete changed the soil moisture around the roots. Root pruning cuts off the fine hairs that grab water, so even a little drought hits harder. People forget that paved surfaces heat up the ground, making everything drier faster... it's like a double whammy. And if the tree was already stressed from construction damage years ago, it's just waiting to fall. So yeah, it's both, but add in urban heat and it's a perfect storm for tree collapse.