I have a 20 yr old American purple stem willow tree it is not very big, about 9 or 10 foot tall and about 9ft diametre. Apparently they stay fairly small. Its leaves have started to go yellow, not sure if its because of the new slabbing around it or that it will be getting less water or if its normal for the leaves to go yellow at this time of year

I have just had the area slabbed around it to extend the patio and while this was being done some of the roots (I'm pressuming it was the roots from the willow) were chopped off as the area was dug to about 5 or 6 inches before the slabs were laid so it has lost 5 or 6 inches of top soil over a 15ft by 15ft area. The gaps between the slabs have been filled in and under them will now be the sand and cement mixture which was put in all the corners so there will be gaps under there too with no soil.

I don't really want to lose it, next to the trunk there has been left quite a small area about 18 inch square which has been filled with soil.

Could it be that it has to recover from the roots being chopped a bit or will it be lack of water? I thought with it being there for 20 years that it might withstand it as its root system was well established. Will it recover?

Anyone have any ideas about this please?

In article ,
says...

Butterfly;896558 Wrote:
I have a 20 yr old American purple stem willow tree it is not very big,
about 9 or 10 foot tall and about 9ft diametre. Apparently they stay
fairly small. Its leaves have started to go yellow, not sure if its
because of the new slabbing around it or that it will be getting less
water or if its normal for the leaves to go yellow at this time of year

I have just had the area slabbed around it to extend the patio and while
this was being done some of the roots (I'm pressuming it was the roots
from the willow) were chopped off as the area was dug to about 5 or 6
inches before the slabs were laid so it has lost 5 or 6 inches of top
soil over a 15ft by 15ft area. The gaps between the slabs have been
filled in and under them will now be the sand and cement mixture which
was put in all the corners so there will be gaps under there too with no
soil.

I don't really want to lose it, next to the trunk there has been left
quite a small area about 18 inch square which has been filled with
soil.

Could it be that it has to recover from the roots being chopped a bit or
will it be lack of water? I thought with it being there for 20 years
that it might withstand it as its root system was well established. Will
it recover?

Anyone have any ideas about this please?




--
Butterfly

If it is just root damage due to the digging it will recover during its
dormant period this winter, if it is objecting to the sudden increase in
PH then its recovery may take longer. It may of course just have been the
dry year to date. but whatever, sit on your hands and do nothing (apart
from water if you think it could be very dry) See what happens in spring
before deciding what to do
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

[/i][/color]
If it is just root damage due to the digging it will recover during its
dormant period this winter, if it is objecting to the sudden increase in
PH then its recovery may take longer. It may of course just have been the
dry year to date. but whatever, sit on your hands and do nothing (apart
from water if you think it could be very dry) See what happens in spring
before deciding what to do
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
ROSELAND HOUSE GARDEN & NURSERY
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea[/quote]

Yes I thought about the cement affecting it too. I have just watered it in the small soil area around the trunk and watered the leaves then I gave it 1.5 gallons of tomato feed as it had nitrogen in it. I'm thinking of taking the soil out of the trunk area so more water can get below the slabs as there are gaps under them. I'm then going to put some granite stones to replace the soil that wont fall into the gaps under the slabs. I could from time to time push the hose pipe under the slabs to get water further under there.

Would it help to trim the tree a bit seeing as its water has been greatly reduced?

Charlie Pridham wrote:
In article ,
says...

Butterfly;896558 Wrote:
I have a 20 yr old American purple stem willow tree it is not very
big, about 9 or 10 foot tall and about 9ft diametre. Apparently
they stay fairly small. Its leaves have started to go yellow, not
sure if its because of the new slabbing around it or that it will
be getting less water or if its normal for the leaves to go yellow
at this time of year

I have just had the area slabbed around it to extend the patio and
while this was being done some of the roots (I'm pressuming it was
the roots from the willow) were chopped off as the area was dug to
about 5 or 6 inches before the slabs were laid so it has lost 5 or
6 inches of top soil over a 15ft by 15ft area. The gaps between the
slabs have been filled in and under them will now be the sand and
cement mixture which was put in all the corners so there will be
gaps under there too with no soil.

I don't really want to lose it, next to the trunk there has been
left quite a small area about 18 inch square which has been filled
with soil.

Could it be that it has to recover from the roots being chopped a
bit or will it be lack of water? I thought with it being there for
20 years that it might withstand it as its root system was well
established. Will it recover?

Anyone have any ideas about this please?




--
Butterfly

If it is just root damage due to the digging it will recover during
its dormant period this winter, if it is objecting to the sudden
increase in PH then its recovery may take longer. It may of course
just have been the dry year to date. but whatever, sit on your hands
and do nothing (apart from water if you think it could be very dry)
See what happens in spring before deciding what to do

Losing the top five or six inches is pretty hefty damage, though: I'd
have thought most of the fibrous roots would have been in that layer
(any comments from those better informed?). I don't know this species in
particular, but willows in general do have great powers of recovery, but
I think the filling between the slabs, if it's mortar, needs to come out
to admit not only water, but air. Any possibility of making that
slab-free patch a bit wider?

--
Mike.

Its an American walnut willow, its not very big perhaps 9ft wide by 9ft tall.

Its sand and cement mixture and there are some gaps under the slabs as it was put in the 4 corners of each slab leaving gaps between but none the less theres a lot of it under there now. So if I remove the soil from the square some air. would get in and some water. It would be hard to make the square wider now but I'll just see how it goes for a while and keep putting the hose under to try and get to recover a bit of strength first and decide wht to do depending on what happens