Trees are and always will be the lifeblood of our world. In fact, about 70% of the oxygen in the atmosphere comes from marine plants and plant-like organisms. With that in mind, you’d think that trees are here to stay. While many are safe, a lot of trees are being cut down due to companies buying land and developing the area. During the development, they are removing trees, displacing wildlife, and then building on the area. While this is just a part of life, there are some downsides. Keep in mind while reading that tree services in the surrounding Mt. Pleasant, SC area are best performed by Connor Tree Service.
During the development of an area, companies are removing the majority of trees while a small number of trees are “preserved” to become stately landscape trees. Unfortunately, it’s unrealistic to leave a few behind and think that they will survive.
This blog post will talk about the reasons why this is so unrealistic. Let’s get started.
Tree Root Disturbance
Trees are very complex organisms and their roots go very deep into the surrounding ground. Imagine a network of roots that go far beyond the tree itself keeping the tree anchored in place while gathering nutrients. When trees are removed from the ground, their roots get tied up in other tree roots, so when the trees are cut down, they fatally impact the remaining trees’ roots.
Tree root disturbance is the largest issue that comes from development. During construction, builders will actually cut tree roots in order to make room for things that they want to build. The closer that this construction occurs, the more destructive it is. The two main types of tree roots are structural roots and feeder roots, both being impacted by this construction. Tree roots are very sensitive to change, with a great threat coming from being over-watered due to things like irrigation installation, sprinkler installation, and similar things.
New Environment
Trees are safer in numbers. When oak trees are in a forest with many other trees, they experience great wind resistance and have less exposure to the sun. When forests are developed with few trees remaining, the ones that survive are left to bare the elements. It doesn’t go well for them and they will quickly die.
You’d think that trees can handle just about any amount of sunlight, considering you learned in school all about photosynthesis. Unfortunately, too much sunlight is basically equivalent to overfeeding.
Get an assessment and quote from Connor Tree Service today.
Soil Grade
With the removal of trees comes a change in the soil, particularly the elevation. The reason the elevation is changed is to compensate for the homes or buildings that are planned to be built in the area. It needs to be as flat as possible. This is a death sentence for remaining trees as they spent their whole existence prepared for one soil environment and then it is suddenly changed and taken away from them.
Moisture
When companies take down trees and preserve others, they tend to put ‘fishbowls’ around the critical root zone of the remaining trees. This is done to preserve the tree for as long as possible, but it also leads to the tree’s demise. Oak trees in particular are upland trees. This means that they don’t like their roots wet. When there is too much moisture, trees struggle to breathe due to the air pockets that they once had being taken over by water. This alone can lead to a tree’s death or at a minimum will cause root rot, fungi, and long-term tree stress.
The Result
The canopies of the remaining trees, due to all these reasons, begin to retract from top-down. This means that they slowly die starting from the top and then leading all the way down the rest of the tree. When this happens, it can be expensive to remove the remaining dead trees. Thankfully, there are arborists in Mt. Pleasant, SC that specialize in the removal of dead trees.
Final Thoughts
Development is always going to be a part of modern life. Thankfully, we are still pretty far from experiencing any issues with our oxygen level due to the removal of trees. Plus, there are tons of well-preserved and beautiful areas that will never be built on. If you need tree services in Mt. Pleasant, SC, look to Connor Tree Service. Get a quote today.
