New Construction project in Concord MA. Forest Keepers are called in. Three beautiful, majestic Sugar Maple trees stand resident in the midst of this new development. The developer loves the trees and wants to keep them as healthy as possible since they are the focal point of the whole project.

You can see here that these three Sugar Maples are remarkable trees but were suffering in the middle of a construction site.

So this is the scenario. And it is a sadly typical one. I can say that it is to the developers credit that he wanted to save these trees and was willing to hire some professional arborists to see to it, but as is often the case, the call was made a bit late in the game. Too late? Well, with some intervention and some good old TLC, we’ll see if we can pull these trees out of the distress that they are in.

The site conditions for the Maple trees were not to good. Extra materials and garbage were piled up around the base of the trees, not to mention the condition of the soil. Notice the lack of drainage in this picture.

The processes involved with construction can be devastating to surrounding trees if no measures  have been taken to protect them. The visible  injuries such as broken limbs and wounds to tree trunks are only the beginning, and in fact, as you can see in these photos, somehow the contractors on this site have done a great job making sure that the trees have suffered no visible, physical wounds. Most likely, this is because of the concern that the developer had for these trees. Unfortunately, however, it is not the damage that you easily see that is most detrimental to the trees. It is the damage to the root systems that often result in tree loss.  Soil compaction is a notorious tree killer!

What was once a thick layer of life giving, forest soil has now been turned into a stripped and lifeless urban hard pan. With it's chemistry significantly altered by concrete run off, and depleted of it's rich mulch of leaf litter and hummus, this soil will not be able to sustain the life of these magnificent Maple trees.

SOIL COMPACTION KILLS TREES!

In an ideal situation, an arborist would be called in  to consult in the planning stages of construction, when the appropriate precautions and preservation measure can be worked right into the site plan. But alas, as it so often happens, no such plans were made and now these beautiful Maples have had the great misfortune of countless heavy machines and far too much foot traffic, pounding all of the precious biology and soil pores out into oblivion.

But there is hope!

First off we need to aerate the soil and try to get some structure back for those poor, suffocating root hairs.  For obvious reasons, tilling the earth by most conventional methods would prove disastrous for any tree as the roots would not likely survive the ordeal. Thankfully for this we have a great tool at our service. The Air-spade is a tool that uses compressed air at high pressures to move soil without affecting any solid object in the soil. Yes even tree roots. Not even the fine textured root hairs that are responsible for water and nutrient uptake are harmed by this lifesaving tool.

To alleviate soil compaction, we used the air-spade tool to loosen the soil around the Maple trees. As the soil structure is corrected, this will give the tree roots the micro-pores they need to put out new root hairs that will help nourish and draw water for the rest of the tree.

Next we need to get some much needed organic matter back into this devastated soil!

A nice layer of compost is spread out over as much of the root zone as possible, reintroducing the much needed organic mater.

Only the finest compost will do for these trees!

Only the best!

This is some of the best compost being produced that we know of in the Northeast. PhaseII Stormwater products Inc., a division of Groundscapes Express has been producing some of the finest, most reliable compost for years.

To stimulate new root growth and to add to the soil biology, we added an organic bio-fertilizer. When it comes to root health you always want to use a product that is full of mycorrhizae and many other beneficial microbes. It took quite a few pounds for these trees to say the least!

Next, the compost is tilled into the top layer, giving the soil the organic materials that it needs and helping to maintain the proper soil structure. Note the difference in soil just next to tilled area by the foundation of the new building.

On top of the newly aerated and revived soil we added a healthy layer of bark mulch and clean leaf  litter. This will help to regulate soil moister and temperatures, as well add just one more layer of organic material that forest trees are so accustomed to having. You could say that we have essentially re-potted these  Maple trees in the closest  that we could create to a healthy forest soil.

Now we just need to keep everybody off of the protected root zone!

Chain link is installed for the duration of the project to keep any machinery and foot traffic from reentering the protected root zone that has been established.

To help alleviate stress on the trees we set up a temporary irrigation system with simple timers. This will stay in place, keeping the trees watered, throughout the duration of the construction project.

BEFORE! AFTER!

Not completely out of trouble yet but doing much better! These trees will be much more able to cope with the stress of the construction site!