Mdknight

I'll chance a bet that the soil in your yard is rather heavy, clay-based stuff. If this is so, what you're seeing is completely normal. Spruce where I live often exhibit this feature. I work around it and also don't consider this ugly at all. Just part of the tree;^)

You can probably fill in with a very small amount of soil without harming the tree, but it will be too little to conceal these roots anyway, and the roots will just grow larger in the mean time.

Mulch can work to an extent too, but the same limitations apply.

Maybe you can start small pockets of a low-growing, tough groundcover. Lysimachia "Gold Coin" is one I've seen used successfully under conifers. I'm sure there's others.

+oM

Well, you do have a problem, and I am not sure what the answer is. First, I agree with Tom that this is a common feature of NS, although I may disagree just a bit on the soil issue--I have seen these exposed roots where the soil is well-drained, but if it happens on well-drained soils, it is more likely if the soil surface has been kept relatively moist, either because of watering or because the climate provides rains frequent enough to keep the top layer of the soil moist for a good portion of the growing season.

So, what to do? Difficult question--it depends on your priorities. I love NS trees and would personally not worry much about the exposed roots. In fact I can find a kind of beauty in these roots. But Tom's suggestions are all good ones, as long as you like the appearance of such measures.

But, if you are contemplating getting rid of the tree because you don't like the exposed roots, I would say you could try more drastic measures and see what happens. Some soil fill to at least fill in the spaces between the roots, as long as it is a light textured soil with a lot of organic matter included, might, and I say "might," not harm the tree. I would not try to add so much that it will cover the larger roots--if there are not too many of those, maybe you could fill in partially--no more than two or three inches at the most--so the root exposure is lessened.

But if the tree is growing fine now and you love it, I would follow Tom's advice. But if you would otherwise get rid of the tree, do what you must and see what happens. If you weaken or kill the tree, what have you lost if you have been thinking of getting rit of it anyway?

Oh, maybe I can add this, even though you did not express any concern about it. NS often has roots that run along the surface of the ground, but this does not mean the trees are shallow rooted. Research has been done on NS root systems, and they have been found to be very extensive, filling up the entire rooting zone of whatever soil they are growing in. The roots may be on the surface, but they also go as deep as the roots of any other tree. NS trees can blow down in a bad storm, but no more easily than most trees--the surface roots are not a sign that the tree is not windfirm, unless, of course, the soil is very shallow and there is a very high water table, or unfractured bedrock, close underneath.

--Spruce

The helath of the tree IS very important because while it seems very vigorous right now, if I accidentally killed it, it would pose a danger to my house, as it is (now that I've taken a better look), much taller than my two story house and not very far from it. This is a huge tree. I'm guessing it ws there before they built the house in the early 60's. The roots BTW don't just fan out, but climb over each other adding to how much they stick up and you can't walk near the tree for fear of tripping. I'm going to try to figure out how to use photobucket and try to post a picture.

I do have heavy clay soil.

I looked up Lysmachia and only found a plant from Hawaii. Wouldn't that imply it is tropical? I live in zone 6 NY and so something like that wouldn't survive, besides I didn't find any links to buying them from anywhere but Hawaii. Anything else I could plant there to improve esthetics? Right now I just have huge roots and dandylions and some other broadleafed weeds taking up a huge chunk of my front lawn.

If it is natural for the roots to be at the surface (and BTW a bunch of Norway Spruce I have growing elsewhere on my property DON'T have shallow roots) but they have deeper roots anyway, does that mean they can or can't be smothered? I can get my hands on a lot of leaf mulch or wood chips. Thanks for clarification.

Knight:

Maybe I can elaborate a little more. If you have a beautiful large old NS tree, I think it must be a treasure--yes, post a picture of the whole tree, if you can. The root--I think I understand--yes, the crossing roots rise up even more than others and are not really attractive, I admit (I hate to admit there can be anything unattractive about a healthy NS tree!).

One difficulty that many people have, is if they have a problem, they can't accept half measures as a solution (I am a bit of a psychologist). But a series of half measures can often add up to an acceptable solution.

You can add some soil to cover, or partially cover, at least some of these roots, and make some of the worst stand out less. I emphasize that if you do this, use a light kind of soil with lots of organic matter in it. No clay soil and no soil with a lot of clay in it even if it is mixed with organic material and sand. No clay! If you add some soil to cover some of the roots over a portion of the root area of this tree, I very much doubt it will do any harm. You could do one portion one year, and then two or three years later add some more to another area.

Next, if there is some area where the roots are especially bad, use some kind of ground cover plant that lives in shade.

And then the mulch idea is a good one for a part of the area if not the whole area.

Finally, if there are some roots that you just can't tolerate, and they are not large ones close to the trunk, you can just cut and remove them. No, I am not nuts, and I don't want you to mutilate this tree, but in all fairness, NS trees are really tough, resiliant old critters and can suffer extensive root loss and survive just fine. Please, don't do this unless you must, but it is unlikely that removing carefully a few or the worst offending roots will harm the tree substantially.

If you must do this, come back here and tell me you are going to do it and I will give you some instructions to reduce the risk of any real damage--infection, etc. to the tree.

--Spruce

Mdknight

Not sure why your Lysimachia search was so limited. This genus is very large, and contains plants that superficially don't even resemble one another.

The plant I mentioned-L. nummularia "Gold Coin" is very hardy, handling Wisconsin winters with ease. Definitely NOT tropical! But it's just one of many possibilities for you to use. I only mention it because I have used it with success under conifers, and because it has a vibrant, lime green to golden color that really shows up in the shade.

There is a county park just north of where I live that has some old NS. Some of these are in a rather low, wet area, and their roots cross over, under, and around each other, just as you describe. I think it's cool as heck, but this is in a woods, not somebodies' yard.

Best of luck. +oM

Another name for the same Lysimachia is "Goldilocks". I'll quit hijacking this thread now with info about an herbaceous perennial plant, except to say, the more I look at mine, planted last year under a large old arbor vitae, the better it looks.

+oM