Do tree roots only grow as far out as the limbs?

Answer 1

If the soil is good and not hard compacted clay or rock, yes. With some species of trees the roots will grow farther than the branches. It also depends on competition from surrounding trees. Most tree roots are in the top 12 inches of the soil, because that is where most of the water, oxygen, and nutrients are located. As the tree grows bigger it has greater nutritional needs and the roots grow out more than down. That is why some trees are completely unsuitable for urban environments, parking lots, etc. Ever see a dead tree in a parking lot? That is usually because somebody chose the wrong species and the roots ran out of room, nutrients, etc.

Answer 2

Q: How far out from most trees do the roots actually grow?


A: For decades we've been told that tree roots grow out from the base of the tree to the tip of the tree's widest branch, an area known as the drip line. They actually extend much farther than that, perhaps as much as 50 percent farther. As much as 90 percent of those roots grow within the top 12 inches of soil.

Answer 3

No, they can go much further than that. Some will go a long way out from the tree and extend as much as 12 to 15 feet past the drip line, the end of the branches. Most will stay close to the drip line but some go far out, depending on the species.

Answer 4

Yes and a lot more stronger. In fact the length and breadth of the branches above land depend for this bingness and length on these who grow quietly unseen underground. They are even stronger than the branches. They can break down the resistence of rocks and go through it in search of a source of water,.Ask any tree cutter. He would vouchsafe that it is comparatively easy to cut down the branches but almost impossible to route out the roots.. By and large they are left undisturbed. If this happens the roots send out new shoots and rejuvinate the tree, albeit not as strong and round as before.The phrase 'dig out the roots' used for total destruction has its origin in this tenacity of this unseen, unhonoured and unsung roots left to die but which refuse to share the misfortune of the interred villagers in Grey's Elegy to a Country churchyard.' The roots have kindred souls in men(women included) also. When the British conquest of India was complete an imperialist English author had boasted that the bow of Englad was lying across the plains of India and there was none to lift it much less to put a string on it(A reference to the Indian epic Ramayan). Within his own lifetime rose the tempest of the 1857 revolution which took up the challenge and almost broke down the bow.And hardly a century later Mahatmajee without raising a finger and meedly submitting to the atrocities (Swami Sahajanand when threatened by a gun-wielding soldier that he could shoot him down boldly bared his breast and challenged him to do it .)This was not only incomprehensible to the Englishman but which also moved him deep down inside and persuded him to go back. The soldier in the Swami Sahajanand episode had not been able to shoot but even look into the fearless eyes.The bravery of the roots always remains hidden underground . They have never been the objects which inspired the poets.

Answer 5

I have read that some tree roots go out twice as far as the branches. That means that your tree's roots might go under your neighbor's house!

I totally wish we could have some kind of huge X-Rays to see how far the tree roots go. Wouldn't that be great?

Answer 6

if a tree is old enough its roots can travel a whole mile plus.

Answer 7

I think that as long as the are not to deep,but deep enough and unobstructed then they will keep on growing...