Root Aeration Tubes
Landscape design specifications frequently call for root aeration tubes to be placed around trees where there will be challenges for root establishment and growth. Challenges to root growth include poor soil composition, poorly structured soil, restricted space (as in street plantings), and soil compaction from heavy pedestrian or vehicle traffic. If any of these conditions exist on the sight of a transplanted tree, then root aeration will be important to the establishment of the tree.
There are numerous options for root aeration tubes. A popular design involves PVC plastic pipes with cross-drilled holes that provide the opening into the soil for aeration. With this design there is a limited amount of oxygen exchange that will occur due to the impervious nature of the plastic.
A far more effective design is the Rootwell Pro 318. The walls of these devices are highly permeable, providing oxygen exchange with all of the soil surrounding the device. Additionally, on the top of these devices is placed a convection cap that actively draws air into the chamber each night when the ambient temperature drops.
Rootwell devices are also beneficial for water and fertilizer delivery because of their open design on the top. Water can be delivered by drip emitter, hose, spray irrigation, or from precipitation. Pro Arbor has had great success in improving the growing conditions for the trees on some of the most prestigious properties in Northern Virginia. The arborists at Pro Arbor have been using these cutting edge techniques for years, and continue to be innovative in their approach to urban and suburban arboriculture.
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More About Soil Remediation
Good Tree Root Health: Oxygen. — In the tips of the roots where absorption takes place, oxygen is critical to root life.
Good Tree Root Health and Microbes. — The forest floor provides an ideal environment for their propagation, and they are constantly cycling through the soil food web. In contrast, urban and suburban soil can be seriously lacking in these microbes.
Root Aeration Tubes — There are numerous options for root aeration tubes. A popular design involves PVC plastic pipes.
Rootwell Products — The Rootwell Products, direct-to-root system has been engineered to permanently enhance a tree's natural ability to absorb oxygen, water, and nutrients.
Soil Compaction — In the built environment where most of us live, soil compaction is a necessity.
Soil Composition — When we consider the make-up of soil we are looking at the percentages of three different components, sand, clay, and silt.
Soil Food Web — What horticulturists and soil scientists refer to as the soil food web is an intricate network of life forms.
Soil Structure — Soil structure essentially refers to the amount of macropores in the soil.
Tree Root Health: Watering Trees. — What we see in lawns that are irrigated conventionally is tree roots growing at or near the surface in the only space that they can live.
Trees Suffering From Drought? — Take a walk in an established forest in this area, and you will see that the problem is not really the drought.
Water Is Not Enough — This tree is watered daily by an automatic irrigation system. Despite the abundance of water, it is stressed and losing leaves in July.
Why is That Tree Not Growing? — Why is it that the trees in some landscapes never seem to grow past the half-way point of their mature size?
