It’s never a good idea to raise the soil levels around a tree or shrub as it can cause it to rot and die, especially in wetter climates. But yours didn’t, fortunately, and twenty years have passed. It has simply adapted and grown roots into the raised soil area. The worst thing you can do now is remove that soil and expose the roots so I agree with all others, get that soil put back pronto!
I wouldn’t even describe that as a girdling root and it’s not doing any damage. Tree roots don’t grow out in neat lines, they can weave their way around all sorts of obstacles such as compacted ground, rocks etc.
Fruit trees do get less productive over time. Age, drought, poor soil fertility, disease or any number of reasons might explain why yours has, but not a girdling root that isn’t really one anyway, so please leave well alone.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I know nothing about this so I googled it. Interestingly, the first 44 articles to appear (I ignored the YouTube videos) were USA based. Only at article 45 was there a UK based contribution, and that was no more than a simple definition.
I don’t know if anything can be inferred from this but leaving the tree alone seems like good advice to me. Tellingly, the RHS has virtually nothing to say on this matter so one imagines they do not deem it to be a significant issue.
Posts
I wouldn’t even describe that as a girdling root and it’s not doing any damage. Tree roots don’t grow out in neat lines, they can weave their way around all sorts of obstacles such as compacted ground, rocks etc.
Fruit trees do get less productive over time. Age, drought, poor soil fertility, disease or any number of reasons might explain why yours has, but not a girdling root that isn’t really one anyway, so please leave well alone.
I don’t know if anything can be inferred from this but leaving the tree alone seems like good advice to me. Tellingly, the RHS has virtually nothing to say on this matter so one imagines they do not deem it to be a significant issue.