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the problem with adding soil on top of dirt

 
author and steward
Posts: 52410
Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)
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Posts: 16
Location: Wilmington, Delaware, Eastern Piedmont, USDA 7a
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Whoa. How deep is that before we get to subsoil; 12"?
 
steward
Posts: 2719
Location: Maine (zone 5)
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Any idea about the back story on this one? It's funny as hell (unless you're the homeowner)
 
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Stand it back up water and your good to go in till the next wind or kid trys to climb the wrong side.
 
pollinator
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Location: North Central Michigan
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it is amazing it lived to be that large, unless maybe it was transplanted as a large tree with no root to speak of??

When my trees topple it is usually about 1/2 way down that they break from wind or snow, but I seldom have any uproot..guess that is a good sign
 
pollinator
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Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8
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In my youth we had several large oaks topple over like that during a tornado, because they had rooted above the limestone shelf that underlies a lot of the soil here.
 
steward
Posts: 1748
Location: Western Kentucky-Climate Unpredictable Zone 6b
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Very good example of how sod can monopolize all nutrients and organic matter. I wonder if earthworm activity was detered chemically , thus producing excellent green growth with no soil development below.
 
Brenda Groth
pollinator
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since first seeing this I'm seeing tons of old trees that were blown down in the storms (on the news) and it is amazing..some have a 16' uprooted area and the root area is barely a foot or two deep.

Every day there are more news photos of trees on houses and cars..and they are huge..but you are right, some have very little root
 
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Location: Converse, Texas
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My guess from experience is that the landscapers didn't take the time to loosen up or improve the soil it was on so it remained as compacted as when the construction crew left it. A dozen feet pounding dirt all day for a year with machinery to boot can make for practically rock hard dirt below. Even if you do layer your good soil on top of that it's always good to come through with some sort of aeration device something... Poor tree. You can even see where it's root ball sat when they planted it.. Kind of a pity that such a large tree might be lost because someone couldn't take 20-30 minutes to work the existing earth.
 
Joe Gag
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What did you ever do with the tree?
 
Posts: 181
Location: Central Ohio, Zone 6A - High water table, heavy clay.
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My girlfriend and I both nearly just peed ourselves laughing at this. I hope this is something you found somewhere or photographed and not something you personally are having to deal with.

Also, I really want to photoshop someone sweeping the sidewalk under the "rug." Really badly.
 
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Location: Sudbury ON, Canada
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kinda looks like you could just "tip" the whole thing back into position! no one the wiser!
 
Posts: 182
Location: CO; semi-arid: 10-12"; 6000 ft
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Wow, what a reminder. When we moved into our house 6 years ago, we followed the advice from several authors, and just ignored the base dirt, laid down cardboard, and built up layers of compost, hay, straw, manure, etc. When we had to move those beds two years ago to build our greenhouse, the ground under the beds still looked and felt like concrete. Three years of gardening and watering hadn't even started to penetrate the hard subsoil.

So yes, I now know that we have to loosen the ground, or dig out a sunken bed, before we can plant anything and expect it to grow.
 
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Location: Ellenton, Manatee County FL
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I wonder if the grass being cut constantly plays a role here?
 
pollinator
Posts: 4022
Location: Kansas Zone 6a
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Tommy Busch wrote:I wonder if the grass being cut constantly plays a role here?



Not so much as the constant irrigation and fertilizer. If you feed and coddle the plant, it is not going bother to build roots because it doesn't have to. The tree was just doing what it was incentivized to do.
 
Posts: 236
Location: SE Wisconsin, USA zone 5b
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dj niels wrote:
So yes, I now know that we have to loosen the ground, or dig out a sunken bed, before we can plant anything and expect it to grow.



But you don't have to. There are plants, worms, insects, and fungus that will do that work for you if you let them.



Awesome pic Paul, thanks for cheering up a rather dismal Monday.
 
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