Large Burford Holly Health

[AdamsHouseCat]

I have several large Burford Hollies that I had installed by a commercial landscape company more than 10 years ago. These hollies are presently about 12 feet tall. They were already really big when I bought them and they may be about 20 years old.

One of the hollies- although it looks healthy - has always been a little less vigorous than the others . Out of the group, this one seemed to have been planted perhaps a bit too shallowly - with the hump of the root ball out of the ground more so than the others. I started to say something at the time of installation, but decided the installing company knew what they were doing.

I have tried to help this Burford "catch up" over the years, perhaps fertilizing it a bit more than the others, and as you will hear in a moment, perhaps fertilizing too near the trunk.

I was looking at these hollies today, and noticed that my less vigorous one had what seemed to be a fine web of roots growing all around it right at the ground surface. This situation is not present with my other Burfords.

So- my speculation is- that the combination of the shallow original installation - perhaps exacerbated by my fertilizing- has created an issue with the root growth pattern.

As I already mentioned, this holly does not appear to be in distress, it just is not growing as well as the others.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do to improve this situation and prevent this Burford from strangling on its own root system?

Some things that have occurred to me include

1. to cease any fertilization within the drip line.

2. I have also wondered if I should bring in some additional soil to surround the high rootball hump so that the transition to the surrounding area will be a bit less pronounced.

3. Should I stab into the ground around the base of the trunk to cut this fine web of surface roots?

4. Should I just leave it alone and let it work things out on its own?

Thanks for any advice.

[bullthistle]

Hindsight is our greatest asset. Do not do anything since you cannot dig it up and set it lower. Surface roots will not hurt the plant but it will not be as healthy. Live with it.

[WildcatNurseryman]

I would do what you have already done as far as fertilizer is concerned. I would use a weak type like Holly-Tone that can't burn the roots. In addition to the Holly-Tone a 2 1/2" application of pine-soil conditioner should be used to cover the roots. Pine-soil conditioner is a pine bark product that is ground to the size of a half-dime size.(Cocoa shell mulch works nicely as well) In the past Pine Mini-Nuggets (mulch) was this size but in the last 5-6 years it has progressively grown in size, and as a result doesn't hold moisture as well as it should. A liquid folier fertilizer may also be benificial in mid-spring if the plant is appearing anemic.