Had a massive root flare to excavate on a client's oak in Springfield

The tree was planted way too deep, probably 8 inches below grade. Thought it would be a 2 hour job with the air spade. Hit a solid layer of compacted gravel and old construction debris they'd buried around it. Ended up taking me and my ground guy the whole afternoon, about 6 hours total, just to expose the root collar properly without damaging the major roots. My back is killing me from hunching over that thing. Anyone else run into surprise landfill material when doing root collar excavations?

4 comments

4 Comments

angela5872mo ago

We hit a buried brick patio once. A small pry bar and a lot of patience got us through it.

robins832mo ago

Tell me about it. We found an old concrete footing last year that wasn't on any map. Spent half a day with a digging bar and a sledgehammer breaking it up by hand. You just have to settle in, accept the delay, and start swinging. It's never fun, but you get it done.

avery_ross2mo ago

I mean, that's just part of the job, right? I don't really see it as a surprise anymore.

kim.jake1mo ago

And honestly that mindset is exactly what gets people hurt in my opinion. You get too comfortable thinking you've seen everything and that's when you stop looking for the small signs. Buried utilities, old septic tanks, stuff that can cave in on you or worse. I've had a guy tell me he never worried about hitting a gas line until he actually did and the whole crew had to evacuate. You can be as skilled as you want but the ground doesn't care about your experience level. Being "used to it" doesn't mean it can't surprise you in a bad way.