Hello EVERYONE!!! It has been a long winter here in Wyoming. I am posting today to get some more helpfull input on these trees I am trying to get growing in my yard. We had a very cold snap in early November and a blizzard came through and burried most of the trees in snow drifts. The drifts stayed all winter long. The last little pieces of ice dissappeared about 2 weeks ago. As the snow melted, I could see that, not only the exposed parts of the trees had turned a rusty brown, but all of the trees' branches had also turned. I noted that at the very bottom of all the trees, there was some green. I am not sure if this green was frozen into the tree or if had begun to come back from brown. After a couple weeks, watering on only the warmest days, I cannot determine if the green I am seeing is increasing, or if I am just, hopefully, optimisticly observing. I am beginning to think that maybe they did NOT survive the Wyoming winter AGAIN. :-( These latest pics were taken on March 16... Do you think these trees are dead??? I think I am noticing more and more green, BUT if I am seeing that, it is happening VERY slowly. As stated before, I may just be hoping to see more green and therefore, I am. I will take more pics in late April and compare. Any green that I do see is limited to the bottom and nearer the trunk. I have also noted just today, that at the base of the trunk, on all trees, the "bark" has split vertically, 4 to 6 inches up from ground level. Is this a bad sign??? Any opinions you experienced guys have to offer is greatly appriciated!! Here's the pics......

Western red-cedars are allelopathic. The kind of allelopathy that most of us are probably familiar with is the type exhibited by walnuts, and is a function of a biochemical produced in the roots (Juglans are also allelopathic in the leaves and wood). I'm not familiar with the specific mechanism for the delivery of the alleopathic components in Thuja plicata (the article says litter is the source, so it stands to reason that the more litter is present, the stronger the allelopathy will be). Unless it is a component of the bark or wood, I would not expect to find the effect in those components, so feel free to use cedar chips in your landscape. I've attached a link to a scholarly paper that plainly lists Thuja plicata as having alleopathic properties. If you remove the litter under the trees, you can probably grow a wide variety of plants just fine, since the allelopathic component seems to be the litter. Roots grow on a cellular level, and it happens so quickly that if you were watching it under a microscope, you probably could not see it happen with the naked eye. So if you start watering a tree (any tree) shallowly under the canopy, those roots will grow faster than the roots that are deeper, or outside the drip line, which will slow down their growth - because roots grow toward water, and if there isn't water, they quit growing, or slow down their rate of growth significantly. It's basic plant biology! Accelerated growth of shallow roots under the canopy combined with slowed-down or halted growth of deeper, wider-ranging roots means that the tree can tip over if the soil becomes saturated, or in a heavy wind. It doesn't happen overnight, but it is inevitable, and the problem is that there are no symptoms or outward signs that a tree has shallow roots. The next time we have a windstorm, just go around and look at the roots of the trees that fell over. They are all shallow-rooted. Botann, I saw your post on a thread on this same subject a few years ago, and I don't disagree that adding some soil under Thuja plicatas can be done without harm to the trees, because the roots that provide the water in a Thuja plicata with a full canopy is getting its water from beyond the drip line. As long as that continues unchanged, the soil under the tree is a non-issue. The problem happens when people put plants in that soil and begin to water them. The tree will send roots up into that soil, and if you don't continue to water the tree deeply or outside the drip line, it will eventually become shallow-rooted. Plants are amazingly adaptable, and since they grow where there is periodic flooding and in fluctuating water tables, Thuja plicata must have devloped an adaptation to having soil washed away or heaped up around them and flood-and-drought cycles, especially if it happens on a regular basis. But sudden changes are more stressful to a tree than gradual changes, and if the change is too drastic or too sudden, the tree might not be able to recover. If a tree in a floodplain can't adapt and falls down, it isn't going to hit anyone's house. The Thujas we are discussing might be able to adapt just fine to any changes the original poster makes, but if it were me, I wouldn't bet my house on it. Here is a link that might be useful: Allelopathy in Trees

I've designed two buildings with underground connectors, one in Manhattan under a street between a dorm and a library and one in NJ between college dorms under a plaza. Waterproofing required a lot of consultation with the reps at Grace Products who are the best at this kind of thing as well as advice from large construction companies who do this kind of thing often. IMO this is not a task for most builders, designers or architects. Be aware that the courtyard slab would be lower than the main floor of the house and would be designed to support the weight of ponded water up to the level of overflow gravity drains around the courtyard. That water would need to go to dry wells. That deck drop would lower the ceiling of the space below a foot or more. For this idea to be feasible, you should have a very important use for a low ceiling, windowless space with beams and columns that can't be located elsewhere. Without additional information I would have to say this is a really bad idea.

Unfortunately, a shorter ~30 ft tree doesn't mean it won't fall or break from catching more wind like a larger tree, it's just less of a problem if it does, and thus hopefully something new gets put in its place, old roots removed and all. can see the stem of this ~30 ft blue spruce? snap and break, unfortunately most evergreens which I want are softwoods https://youtu.be/pBkPichBlt8?t=838 this shows how small and weakly rooted (in certain but likely many soils) the root system of a large seemingly strong healthy tree can actually be, especially when ground is saturated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMwCThoK43k someone mentioned a lot of trees won't just reach a certain height and stop growing even if it's commonly noted as the max height. In perfect conditions in nature where a tree happens to find exactly what it likes it can grow much more than max heights noted, this nootka cypress weeping alaskan cedar says can grow 90 ft in perfect conditions, not 30' like commonly noted for home landscapes but if you conditions are perfect for that tree then it can grow much taller. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3ITdkSZ7BM