The first picture looks like you may be very close to the flare. I'd keep going and try to find it.

Clicked the button too soon.

I also meant to ask if you have any sort of guarantee on this tree. If so, I'd have them plant tree correctly. Get it arranged now so that they can do it this fall.

What Jean said. Esp if it is a B&B, I'd have them re-do it. No excuse to plant a tree too deeply, even a B&B (altho IME often B&B planted too deeply).

Dan

"...how do these tree grow so great at the tree farm, yet they are buried at least 6 inches too deep."

The trees aren't planted that deep at the tree farm. Loose soil is added to, or left atop, the actual rootball when the tree is dug and balled. The nursery should have removed that soil and found the root flare at planting. Actually if the roots start 6" or more below the surface, I wouldn't be surprised if the entire rootball wasn't put below grade when planted. I bet the idiots piled dirt on top of the rootball instead of raising it to the proper level. The nursery should definitely replant or replace this tree at no charge.

If the same nursery that planted this one did the first one as well, that may have been an underlying problem in its lack of health.

Thank you for the explanation. You would think they would inform their installers on the correct way to plant the tree. When they did come my wife had to talk with them quite a while to convince them to remove the metal wire basket and burlap. They said we should have left it because it is instable now?

Well today I set out again to find the flare/first root. It is less than another inch below where I stopped.

So here is what I have. The first root is roughly 2 inches below ground level if I were to eventually remove the mulch and make it level with the surrounding ground. (With the mulch and dirt on top it was at least 6 inches).

My question is...Is two inches worth replanting and losing any possible root growth or would it be better to leave the donut shaped ring around the base/flare exposing it? Would it eventually grow/expand and make that two inches less obvious?

My first concern is a healthy tree but a close second is getting it growing as fast as possible and that is the reason I chose this Maple.

"When they did come my wife had to talk with them quite a while to convince them to remove the metal wire basket and burlap. They said we should have left it because it is instable now?"

Sounds like they are much less than knowledgeable! Removing the metal wire basket and burlap was definitely the right thing to do.

"So here is what I have....."

It's hard to know what's best without being there. Soil drainage will be a critical factor. Opportunities for drainage scenarios depend on topology around your tree. The only for sure thing is that the extra 4" of stuff around the tree should be removed for sure.

Without being there to examine the situation, here's what I think I might do. I would excavate the area around the tree out to the diameter of the original rootball down to the root flare. I'd be careful when doing this to avoid unnecessary damage to any larger roots present in the fill. Then I'd use the extra 2" below the surface level to hold mulch. More than 2" deep could be added out away from the trunk near the outer edge of the excavated hole. One possible drawback of this approach is drainage. If you have poor draining soil the hole might tend to collect too much water. If you have well draining soil, this would be much less of an issue.

Thank you for your response. I am truly learning a lot. Is the excavation something I should do now or something I should wait till fall or spring to do? I am just nervous as the weather is hot and dry now and I do not want to do anything to shock the tree.

My soil does drain well although I did notice while excavating and using some water that maybe it was not draining that well around the base (Clay root ball I suppose?)

Doing some more research on the Internet I found some information from a few University studies that say some species are less susceptible to girdling roots and other issues that are associated with a flare too deep. They mention "Some species of Maples such as Sugar Maple" but nothing else. Do people plant some species of Maples deeper in an attempt to combat surface roots? My other thought is seeing some of the pictures of tree flares when doing research online show healthy root flares of older trees. The flare is very pronounced and spread wide. My assumption is the flare has grown wider and in an upward directionÂsince I would not think anyone would plant a tree with what looks like that "high" in the ground (Even though it is correct). Is this wrong? If the first main root of the Maple tree is two inches below ground, I would imagine that over the years as it expands in circumference it would eventually be above ground (Assuming it makes it that far)

If I understood the timeline in your post, the tree was just planted. There would be no reason to wait. Fixing it now means less chance of failure later and means less time for roots to develop in the excess fill. Unless you had to remove a significant amount of roots, fixing the situation will be much less stressful on the tree than if it has to breath through an extra 4" to 6" of dirt! As you would anyway, be sure to maintain a careful check on soil moisture and water as needed.

Girdling roots are most often caused by potbound root systems not being properly prepared (teased out, cut, etc) when planted. Sometimes small trees get potted up into larger containers without having their roots properly prepared, and girdling roots can be present even though they are not evident when the tree is planted. I don't see this situation (with the info given so far) as having a high potential for girdling roots.

Planting a tree deeper will do absolutely nothing to stop surface roots. The tree grows surface roots in order to get air. The amount and degree of surface roots depend on things like the tree species, soil type, and soil moisture. If the tree is going to grow surface roots, it will do so no matter how deeply it's planted, unless it is killed first. What you said about a 2" deep root eventually growing to a circumference large enough to be above ground is correct. But, if the tree needs surface roots, it will grow them; burying existing roots won't stop the process.

Sorry, but I don't understand what you were saying about the root flare growing in an upward direction.

Once again thank you for the information. My thought on the flare would be that if I flatten the area and mulch it so that it is even with the surrounding ground and leave the first root 2" below grade but uncovered in a ring, would it eventually grow large enough (Probably many years after i am here) to be above ground...I hope that even makes sense.

I think I see what you are asking. As the tree grows, the root flare will enlarge to the point that much of it will be above grade, but some of it will be below grade which is not ideal. As already mentioned, this may be OK if drainage is sufficient.