We purchased a fixer-upper with desperately overgrown landscaping almost 3 years ago & are finally ready to start focusing on some of the scarier areas along the back of the property. We have 2 very large pines (south tree: 40'+, 24"+ trunk diameter; north tree: 50'+, 36"+ trunk diameter. spaced 6' apart) in the SW corner between the end of our driveway & the neighbor's to the west that are badly crowded by other trees. The larger pine has a good sized tree (25' tall, 12" trunk diameter) growing right up against & all around it. This shady 12x20' area is also home to several other smaller trees (4-8" diameter), several large privets, some ground cover along the edges (not grass) & a bunch of junk. The region in front (north) of the larger pine's base slopes a bit downward/inward from each drive & becomes slightly flooded during heavy rains, sometimes remaining damp for a while afterward.

The location of the pines is concerning as windstorms & ice storms have wreaked havoc on our city in the past & weather typically moves in from the W/SW, potentially placing our house in the direct path should the trees happen to come down. The last thing we want to do is compromise the health of these pines.

(1) Do the crowding trees need to be removed? If so, must all of them go or just the most serious offender(s)?

(2) What impact will the remaining root systems of the removed trees have on the pines?

(3) If the crowding trees and other junk were to be removed, could we safely plant anything around these huge pines?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Without pics, it's hard to get a real good feel for your situation. I'd not be worried at all about roots from trees that are there now and might not be there later if you remove them. What would change? Sure, the roots would rot eventually if the trees are cut down, but that ain't no thang.

Again, without pics, I don't know if you 'should' plant anything under the pines, if and when the junk trees are gone. But you could!

+oM

PS......I'm glad you are trying to do what's best for those pine trees. I probably would too in your situation.

and that is because it is a giant.. and it didnt get that way.. worrying about what is under it ...

the problem under giants.. is that the soil is usually rather barren .. and with the giant.. extremely dry ... and getting new stuff 'established' s usually a problem ...

i need a picture to go any further

and answer why you have to remove what is there ... you dont have enough problems to fix.. w/o starting another?? .. lol

ken

as far as taking the scrub out, most likely the larger trees will thank you for it. the one addendum to this is that if you cut them down and treat the stumps with round up or something else (not a bad idea to prevent regrowth) there is a chance that the scrub trees you want to remove and the evergreens you want to keep have form graft unions where roots have grown together and might cause injury to those trees. just some thing to be aware of.

as far as planting under larger trees goes...large trees have large roots systems capable of outcompeting smaller plants for resources...in this case we are basically talking about water. fortunately a few thousand yeats ago cultures with much less mechanical technology at their command discovered what is called irrigation. somehow I think we still have rough equivelant.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong on this.

John

General area:

General area:

Tree growing at SE base of larger pine:

Same tree, a little further up:

Same tree, from N looking S:

Base of larger pine, from N looking S:

Swampy region in front (N) part of area:

The only advice I would give would be: Don't have a bunch of heavy equipment out there compressing the soil in the root zone of the pines (think dozers and such although I won't even the tractor and brush hog go in the dripline of my big trees). Remove and roundup everything you don't want.

John

And ditto on the heavy equipment or you just might lose the trees in the end.