Knowledgebase

Girdling Roots #928625

Asked April 16, 2026, 4:20 PM EDT

Hello: This is a follow up (from 4/15/26) to my question regarding a Basswood tree in my front yard. An Aarborist from Davey Tree Servide examined the tree today and said the issue with the tree is Girdling Roots. I am attaching a couple of photos for your review. The service being recommended is 'root pruning with air tool' which has a price tag of $650. To remove the tree and grind the stump would be seventy dollars more. Based on the photos I am sending, do you agree with the diagnosis? If so, does $650 sound reasonable for the root pruning service (if your able to answer this question)? Would you believe the odds for success (root pruning with air tool) are good enough to justify the $650 expense or should I just remove the tree? Thanks for your help. Jeff Note: I am located on Grosse Ile. If you need my address, I can provide it.

Wayne County Michigan

Expert Response

It is not necessarily a root pruning service - the air spade is just a means of excavating soil to investigate if there even are girdling roots to prune. It is entirely possible that are not girdling roots, and they'll run their air spade for 15 minutes to realize they need not hardly do anything, but better expose the root buttress. The root flare is already visible, which is at least half the battle with the air spade. The air spade can be a very useful tool in the event the tree was planted too deeply, which does not appear to be the case on this tree. For these reasons I would not recommend this service, although I do agree it would be of some benefit, but nowhere near enough to justify the cost. 

If you're comfortable yourself to do some investigative work, you need only cut the turf away from one side of the tree, and proceed to pull back the soil around the whole perimeter of the trunk - a pick mattock is the perfect tool to do this. If you encounter any circling roots, simply sever them. From the second picture, it appears one girdling root around the trunk was removed, which if true, is really good to remove. But such a root, although problematic, would not kill the tree by itself. I would venture a guess, judging by the excessive amount of lichen that the tree is severely struggling, and the heavy soil, likely poorly drained, is the main contributing factor.

And in the case the air spade does have to excavate a foot down or so, let's just say (even though you need not go below the flare), and they remove a many circling roots, and even some girdling, further down the side of the tree without the buttress, the tree isn't going to magically spring to life, it is going to continue to struggle. Even if they were to find a massive girdling root that was severely choking the tree, which they could, and perfectly remove it, the immediate effects would be die-back before a long, long recovery. And in the case you're not happy with how it looks currently, your best bet is removing it and replacing it, try swamp white oak or london plane to better suit these heavy soils, and always make sure the root flare is visible and clean.

This is my opinion based on the two photos. Best of luck.

https://marylandgrows.umd.edu/2024/01/12/free-the-flare-maintain-visible-root-flare-for-tree-health/

Thank you for your question!  Replied April 18, 2026, 1:03 PM EDT

Loading ...