Say what?
Just this week I was on Facebook and in one of the green professional groups someone asked a pricing question: how much to level out and turf over two tree wells? What? They want to remove two existing tree wells and turf them over. That’s insane and backwards. I didn’t win any awards by pointing that out in the group. I might have been kicked out already. It feels like a cash project by a lawn care dude who cares very little about trees and the services they provide.
Why tree wells rule
Tree wells rule! Here’s one example. Today I serviced a lawn care client who has a small sourwood tree (Oxydendrum arboreum) planted in the lawn. Up until this spring, it didn’t have a tree well and it struggled for two main reasons.
One, the turf competes with the tree for resources and two, there are clear signs of bark damage from lawn care machines. Those two reasons are big enough to create a tree well for the tree, which is exactly what I did. And the little sourwood leafed out, flowered and is now changing colours. Now, I don’t have any scientific data but you can be sure that the tree well didn’t hurt the tree.
Tree wells also channel water into the root zone but, most importantly, they keep lawn care machines away from the bark. It’s such an epidemic, I wrote a whole chapter on it in my online course on The Top 5 Lawn Care Mistakes. I know from practice that even landscape professionals can slip up; it’s easy to do with a line edger.
Worse still, assuming the lawn care dude uses a heavy ride-on mower, mowing close to the tree will compact the turf in the root zone. Soil compaction then makes it extremely difficult for the tree to absorb water- it just runs off or sits there.
What I think should be done
Now go back to the first picture. Here’s what I would recommend to the lawn care dude as an extra cash project. Get some tools and weed out the tree wells. Then take an edging shovel (the one with a straight bottom) and create a nice deep edge. Since we’re seeing weeds, it’s possible that the mulch is too skinny. I always recommend two to three inches to keep weeds down. So top it up, if you like.
This will keep both trees happy and healthy, thus preserving and increasing property values. Eliminating the tree wells is a terrible idea which nicely highlights the difference between lawn care and landscape professionals.
Your trees need tree wells!
