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Shade Tree Root Invasion

 
pollinator
Posts: 554
Location: Northwest Missouri
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Last season I noticed that my raised bed was filled with roots. Fine roots that I believe are feeder roots from a hackberry tree. This has happened to me before with a compost bin (https://permies.com/t/139281/composting/Tree-Ate-Compost)

So what do I do about it? Naturally I want the fertility of the bed to go towards the annual vegetables I grow in it. I plotted out this garden thinking the hackberry would be good shade for the more shade loving fruit shrubs north of it. But now I wonder if we'll ever get along because this year the whole bed is probably going to be a big mat of roots.

I can't just move the bed. It's a huglekulture bed with tons of wood inside and it's dug into the slight slope. Do I trim the tree? Remove it? Run a saw blade through the ground just east of the raised bed to prune the roots? I'm at a loss.
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pollinator
Posts: 5347
Location: Bendigo , Australia
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Which bed in your plan has been encroached on?
Can you install a root barrier underground that will prevent the roots misbehaving?
https://plasticforests.com.au/product/root-barrier-heavy-duty/
stratagreen-rootstop-linear-barrier-position.jpg
Root barrier installation
Root barrier installation
 
steward
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I like John's suggestion.

It is good to know there is a fix.

Matt, I feel all gardeners deal with this at some point.

My root invasion is from a juniper tree.  I have heard of folks battling berry bushes and Bermuda grass.

Plants look for water and they find it.

 
Matt Todd
pollinator
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Location: Northwest Missouri
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Installing a root barrier like that would be a lot more digging then I want to invest the time and effort in. Thinking I'll cut the tree back for now, leaving some for shade and hoping that what I remove will cause the root mass to decrease.
Then next year when my shrubs are tougher I might cut it all the way down so all that root mass in the ground will become organic matter in the soil.
 
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