andrewducker: (Default)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2018-11-01 11:00 am

Interesting Links for 01-11-2018

agoodwinsmith: (Default)

Re: Designing houses around trees

[personal profile] agoodwinsmith 2018-11-01 08:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, drat. It makes me feel good to look at, and now I want one - but I don't want to kill the tree to get one. Is it because of lack of water and nutrients under the usual canopy spread? Or does the weight of the building compress the soil and suffocate the roots? What happens?
del: (Default)

Re: Designing houses around trees

[personal profile] del 2018-11-02 01:27 pm (UTC)(link)
One issue that occurs to me is that roots are like animals: they don't photosynthesise, they respire, turning oxygen into CO2. I wouldn't have expected the roots to die of suffocation due to not enough oxygen, but thought sealing the ground around the tree may stop the roots getting rid of CO2, and result in the soil becoming fatally acidic.

However, a quick look at the internet suggests the experts really do identify oxygen and lack of moisture as the two threats to covering tree roots, even from as little as two feet of extra soil above what the tree had grown towards.