North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Mark Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>]

Lucky wrote:

"They grew, without fruiting, for
nearly 30 years, until my parents had to replace the
drain tile from the septic tank, necessitating
trenching right between the walnut and the
pomegranates - all but killing the walnut."

Lucky,

Do you have an idea what percentage of the roots were severed?  I ask
because last summer we ran a bunch of field tile to try to get rid of some
sub-surface water.  In the process, we cut a trench along the property line
and cut through the roots my neighbor's large thorny honeylocust.  Why folks
around here would want to keep a thorny locust is beyond me, but whatever.
Anyway, I hope I didn't kill the neighbor's tree, so I'm wondering how much
root mass can be safely severed from a 60+ foot tree?

Mark
KS