HELP - please!

[McTavish 9]

I can't believe it. I'm finally trying really hard to get my plants into the ground. With help from my grown son's we've been preparing areas into the woods which seemed like an ideal location. Our woods are mature trees of fir (Douglas I think), Hemlock, Cedar and one tall Pine. One place I'd planned to plant is a raised place below the barbque deck. Over the years this has been a dumping area for garden clean up and other compost like things (no food since it draws bears and skunks). I thought by the time I was ready to palnt in it, it would be great. When I actually dug into it yesterday, I hit a bunch of fine roots. They just went on and on. I dug some up and smelled them - cedar I'm pretty sure. The tree immediately near this section is a fir. Below are some pictures.





That shows how far apart they are, but I guess that doesn't matter. Here is the height of the built up planting area from the bottom. The cedar would be directly behind me.


This is what the roots look like.




Now what? Don't tell me this whole effort is for nothing and anything I plant is going to be strangeled eventually. I may have to take advantage of the hemlock.

The last picture is to give you the size of these trees.



Does anyone have experience with the invasive roots of cedar? I searched cedar on the forum and couldn't find anything that seemed to fit. I did see some beautiful pictures from Waynes garden that had cedars nearby but they looked like the hedge type. Wayne - are you there? Is there some type of fiber barrier that I should use? Any suggestions would be welcome.

McT

[R. Rock]

Hi,
Don't fight it. Place some large stone and mulch there. Plants like lamium may make it there. I know you need a place for your plants, investigate the property where you have the least amount of "root competition". The future is bright; you are gardening. Good Luck.

[Chris_W]

I hate to say it, but I agree - don't fight it. This will be a losing battle Lamium should do fine as a ground cover to give you some color and flowers, or something like vinca, but hostas would never survive there.

I've heard there are some kind of bags you can plant hostas in that will keep the tree roots out, but I haven't heard about them in a while so wonder if they really worked or not.

Sorry

Chris

[tsbccowboy]

Here is a link to the Spin Out bags: http://www.wrdist.com/root_control_product.html

I haven't tried these myself but think they would work for you.

Cowboy

[McTavish 9]

Thanks for the ideas. I think I'm going to have to try the bags as a barrier for the larger plants - ones - I don't want to have to dig up. A few people have claimed success with planting by cedars so I am hoping if the hosta roots are big enough that they can compete. I think it was this forum that Hank Zumach use to post on? I remember thinking his gardens were amazing. His plants were mostly under trees but I don't know if they were cedars. I know one post said he'd had success under a walunt (so have I). I guess I'll see what happens since there's not much I can do about it. Fortunately most of the trees in that woods are fir. McT

[Chris_W]

I've grown hosta under cedar trees before, but there weren't any roots like that and I could turn and dig into the soil without hitting any roots at all. But it may have been a different type of cedar than you have. I also plant under walnut trees, but again, not a single fine surface root to be found.

If you are going to try it there, definitely try using the bags. I would hate to see you lose all your hostas after a few years in that mess of roots, which is exactly what will happen I'm afraid