Identification of an underground root/vine - Ask Extension
I am in the process of putting some raised beds in a pre-existing garden plot. I the course of digging I hit a fairly large, 2" diameter, underground ...
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Identification of an underground root/vine #599298
Asked September 26, 2019, 11:10 AM EDT
I am in the process of putting some raised beds in a pre-existing garden plot. I the course of digging I hit a fairly large, 2" diameter, underground horizontal root that is quite long sitting maybe 16" below the surface. So far I have unearthed approx. 15 feet. The only landscape plants within a reasonable distance is a well established (40+ years old) Japanese maple tree that is approx. 6 feet tall whose trunk is probably a good 24 feet from far end of the root I dug up. The direction of the remaining underground portion does not seem to be heading directly towards the maple. The only other large plants are two Leland cypress that my neighbor put in four years ago. As you can see in the attached images, the root does not show any dendritic growth or rootlets for water/nutrient take up. I'm trying to figure out what this is. Any ideas?
District of Columbia County District of Columbia
Expert Response
Hi - We are not able to identify the source of the root from this photo. Tree roots can extend four to five times farther than the height of a tree, so it is possible that this is a structural root from a much larger tree that is even beyond the Japanese maple that is right on the other side of the fence. Your options would be to bury it back under and put your raised bed on top, or, since you have it dug up, try to move it out of the way and bury it back in and then make your raised beds. Technically, you could cut the root since it is on your property, but this can lead to dieback or decline in support for a neighboring tree.
Christa
Christa
