TLC or axe these pines?

12 years ago

The problem: 5-10 years ago, previous owners regraded and dumped at least two feat of soil on the roots of these pines.

Last year I had an arborist out to look at them and he was 50/50 on saving them. He started to dig wells around them and gave up. I started last night, got about two feet down and hit gravel.

They don't look super healthy but they're still green. Maybe 10% brown needles, throw cones year round. Pines around here are suffering from dook's needle blight, mind you.

Pro: they do screen the road a bit (husband wants to keep for this reason)
Con: I don't want to plan around them if they're going to keel over in five years.

What would you do? Thanks for any advice!!

This post was edited by robotropolis on Tue, May 13, 14 at 12:40

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
you again???

get rid of them first.. then plat in the space ...

quite a nightmare removal.. if you do it bass-ackwards ...

i dont know about the ax part ... lol ... unless you are some samurai ax master ... power lines.. sheds... fences.. neighbors ... be safe dude ...

ken
robo (z6a)
Original Author
12 years ago
Me again!

Figurative axe. Hiring someone for sure. Last year the guy got rid of two other ones pretty quick - he crawled right up and sawed off about six feet at a time! It was amazing.

(PS So can I tell my husband these guys are gonna keel over in an expensive, neighbor shed destroying way as a reason to get rid of them?)
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Smivies (Ontario - 5b)
12 years ago
The one on the right has been pushing out 12-18" of growth every year for the past 5 years at least. The one on the left, a little less at 8-12" each year for the same period.

Besides the fact that someone did a hack job pruning 10 years ago and they are ugly as hell....they are also very healthy. I would say no TLC is required. Let them grow.
pineresin
12 years ago
If they're still healthy more than 5 years after the soil was added, they'll be OK. Damage from buried roots would have shown up in 1-3 years.

So keep them, if you like them.

Resin
robo (z6a)
Original Author
12 years ago
They are ugly as sin. There were actually two more, one in between these ones and a tiny struggler to the right. Plus they were in a lot of shade. Plus the nightmare pruning. But maybe they'll...I dunno, look windswept in time or something.