PSA: Watch out for rotten fence posts near old oak trees

I was out on a job last week in rural Georgia replacing a section of split rail fence. The homeowner wanted me to pull up some old posts near a big oak tree, and I found the bottoms were completely rotted out from moisture trapped against the roots. Took me twice as long to dig them out because the roots had grown around the concrete. Has anyone else run into trouble setting posts near big trees?

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3 Comments

miles9465mo ago

Roots don't grow around concrete, they push it out.

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julia_miller245mo ago

I was talking to my neighbor who's a landscaper last summer and he showed me a sidewalk where the tree roots had actually cracked the concrete and grown right through it. He said the whole thing about roots going around is kind of a myth people tell themselves to feel better about planting trees too close to their house. The roots will push at anything in their way, concrete included, if they have enough time and water pressure behind them. I mean, I've seen pictures of whole asphalt roads getting lifted up by roots underneath, not a single curve around it. So I get what you're saying about them not just giving up and going around, but I think it's more that they just keep growing regardless of what's there.

4

grantadams4mo ago

Yeah that tracks. My driveway looks like a failed topographical map right now.

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