Asked July 10, 2025, 8:00 PM EDT
Hello,
We have 4 mature Norway maples (40+ yrs), 2 of which are red, or crimson. In spring 2023 these trees had ~4-6+\-“ of tree stump removal mulch spread ~6 ft out around them (~1/2 drip line) and inc up to the trunk, and then another ~1-2” of bark mulch topping. These trees are now not doing well, with about a 1/4 of the canopy thinned and many dead branches. We removed mulch down to ground level, cutting a lot of the sm roots growing up, and see signs of girdling, inc one w/an ~2-4” root over a flair root, and one where it appears it may have initially been root bound, or had recovered a prior “volcanic” mulch.
Questions-can these be saved and if so how?
Eaton County Michigan