{"id":1572,"date":"2012-08-20T23:33:18","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T03:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.bartlett.com\/?p=1572"},"modified":"2023-08-30T10:09:55","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T10:09:55","slug":"trees-dispelling-myths-misinformation-3-of-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bartlett.com\/blog\/trees-dispelling-myths-misinformation-3-of-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Trees: Dispelling Myths &#038; Misinformation (3 of 12)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Article 3 of 12 from <em>Trees: Dispelling Myths &amp; Misinformation, <\/em>prepared by the arborists of the Southwest Division of Bartlett Tree Experts as a community education initiative.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve seen them: trees whose bases look like telephone poles in the ground because no trunk flare is visible. That\u2019s good, right? Because then the trunk flare and buttress roots, which we\u2019ve already learned provide stability, will have the extra support of soil coverage to pack them down and keep them secure. This sounds logical, but it\u2019s wrong. The root crown needs to be visible. Let\u2019s look at why.<\/p>\n<p>Nature designs roots to tolerate the moist, dark conditions underground. The trunk is not specialized to do this, and the root crown (or collar) is part of the trunk. This brings us to the importance of phloem cells that exist inside the bark layer. They transport food (photosynthates) produced in the foliage to other parts of the tree, including the roots. When the root crown is buried, oxygen and carbon dioxide can\u2019t easily move in and out of the phloem layer. Over time, this will kill phloem cells, which won\u2019t be able to deliver photosynthates to roots; eventually those roots will have difficulty absorbing water and elements that other cells send back up the tree.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t stop there. This condition encourages disease-causing fungi to infect the tree. The resulting decay attracts borers and other secondary invaders.<\/p>\n<p>Commonly, a root collar becomes buried as a result of construction activities or because the tree was planted too deep. A qualified arborist can determine whether a root crown excavation (with a proper tool) is feasible to relieve the condition.<\/p>\n<p>While we\u2019re on the topic of conditions that harm the tree base, girdling roots and \u201cvolcano mulch\u201d are other culprits. Girdling roots are regrettably common, mainly due to growing practices that encourage roots to circle inside their containers. Often, we see \u201cvolcano mulch\u201d on newly planted trees. It\u2019s mulch that\u2019s piled cone-like against the trunk, and it\u2019s a terrible practice. We\u2019ll learn more about these in later articles.<\/p>\n<p>Now that we know more about the general habit of root growth and that the root crown should be exposed, we\u2019re better prepared to understand the principles of tree planting.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Trees: Dispelling Myths &amp; Misinformation (2 of 12)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bartlett.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/tree-advice\/trees-dispelling-myths-misinformation-2-of-12\">\u2190Read the previous article in the series<\/a><br \/>\n<a title=\"Trees: Dispelling Myths &amp; Misinformation (4 of 12)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bartlett.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/tree-advice\/trees-dispelling-myths-misinformation-4-of-12\">Read <em>Tree Planting, What The Failures Teach Us<\/em>, the next article in the series\u2192<\/a><br \/>\n<a title=\"Trees - Dispelling Myths &amp; Misinformation\" href=\"http:\/\/dl.dropbox.com\/u\/19476728\/TreesDispellingMythsArticleSeries%20033012.pdf\">Download the complete PDF\u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article 3 of 12 from Trees: Dispelling Myths &amp; Misinformation, prepared by the arborists of the Southwest Division of Bartlett Tree Experts as a community education initiative. You\u2019ve seen them: trees whose bases look like telephone poles in the ground because no trunk flare is visible. That\u2019s good, right? Because then the trunk flare and&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bartlett.com\/blog\/trees-dispelling-myths-misinformation-3-of-12\/\">Read More<span> Trees: Dispelling Myths &#038; Misinformation (3 of 12)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,8,10,12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bartlett-tree-experts","category-environmental-issues","category-tree-advice","category-tree-preservation","category-tree-research","category-urban-tree-care"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trees: Dispelling Myths &amp; Misinformation (3 of 12) - Tree Topics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nature designs roots to tolerate the moist, dark conditions underground. 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