[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[Mark Di Lucido]

Jack

I had ironwood trees (Olneya tesota) at two of my houses, one was planted
within 2' of a concrete patio, the other, was about 4' from a stuccoed
masonry wall.  Neither structure was heaved or cracked by the trees.  If you
irrigate the tree, (not necessary as it's an established native) do so
deeply and infrequently.  This will encourage roots to grow deeper into the
soil.  Compared to palo verde's and mesquites, ironwoods are slow growers,
and rarer, so if you have a large specimen, or specimen with the potential
to get large I suggest leaving it.  
Keep in mind that your patio and wall may crack anyway for reasons
completely unrelated to the ironwood (if the foundations were not installed
or designed properly and/or you have expansive soils this could and does
frequently happen.)  The above notwithstanding, if it comes down to the
choice of a patio and wall without cracks, or, some cracking and a patio
shaded and made into an inviting space by a beautiful native tree w/ few if
any cultural problems, I'd much prefer keeping the tree.

Hope this helps

Mark D. (not a master gardener)
-----Original Message-----
From: arid_gardener-bounces at CALS.arizona.edu
[mailto:arid_gardener-bounces at CALS.arizona.edu] On Behalf Of
MARJACK13 at cox.net
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 11:04 AM
To: arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu
Subject: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page


JACK 
85266
MARJACK13 at COX.NET

WE PLANTED AN IRONWOOD TREE 5 YEARS AGO IN OUR BACK YARD NEAR OUR STUCCO
WALL ENCLOSURE AND CLOSE TO OUR FLAGSTONE PATIO. 
OUR LANDSCAPER TOLD US THE TREE'S ROOTS WILL ULTIMATELY EXPAND AND DAMAGE
THE STUCCO WALL UNDERSTRUCTURE AND CAUSE THE FLAGSTONE PATIO TO CRACK AS
WELL. HE FEELS THE TREE WILL EVENTUALLY GROW TO BE TO LARGE AND SHOULD BE
REMOVED TO PREVENT FUTURE DAMAGE. PLEASE ADVISE WHETHER THIS SHOULD BE DONE.
THANK YOU


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