In article
,
" wrote:

Hi everyone - I am planning on putting in a brick patio in my backyard
and would like to put it next to a large pine tree (50 feet tall). My
question is this - wince I need to dig down 6 - 8 inches to lay the
foundational aggregate and the resulting brick patio literally right
next to the tree, will I cause any permanent damage to the tree (or
even kill it), by removing any roots within those 6 - 8"?

Thanks!

It's russian roulette. I've seen profound damage done to tree roots --
builders taking out ALL the roots on one side of a whole row of trees --
and the trees never showed no sign of noticing. Yet I know of people who
didn't hurt a tree's roots at all but managed to kill a tree by building a
raised bed over shallow roots that didn't like finding themselves deeper.

In any case it'll take three or four years to know if you've doomed a
tree, not apt to quickly reveal if it's hurt or okay. In the meantime,
pines and firs can be very prone to blow-down when roots weaken even if
the tree looks healthy. So you might want to assess which way the winds
usually blow and if it's more apt to fall on your roof or the neighbor's.

You might look at the layout you're planning and see if there isn't an
attractive way to have a wood "step up" part of the patio then you could
build a little raised wooden walkway around the tree not even touching the
ground over shallow roots.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
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