I have a couple 8year old Evans cherries that are going to see 4-8 inches of sandy topsoil added to their existing grade. It’s the necessary result of recountering around the house following some pretty extensive excavation.
I’m not inclined to move them. They are good sized trees, I don’t have a good place for them presently, and they have been lousy producers.
But I wouldn’t mind leaving them in place and giving them a few more years. At the very least they are spectacular in spring.
Is it worth trying to box or ring around the trunk to keep the soil off the root flare?
It’s pretty light topping material. I’m sort of tempted to just let it run up against the tree, maybe pull it back some imiedietly around the trunk depending how much final grade requires.
Or is that much sudden overburden just going to do them in, and I might as well cut them down or rip out now?
Depending on where you live adding soil on top of the tree’s roots in that area will deprive them of oxygen (as well as the soil life) to some extent and detrimentally effect that side of the trees. How much? Don’t know. Will show up in the canopy eventually but might take three years (and might be displayed as fruiting on that side of the tree).
Pulling the material away from the root crown would be wise to prevent crown rot.
Wells are the traditional method but results are not reliable. There are many variables that all come down to how much roots are being deprived of adequate oxygen. If inadequate area is kept aerobic the trees will decline rapidly but it is not possible to clearly know in advance.
If possible I’d be inclined to lift the trees. Cherries are very amenable to bare root transplant.
At PennState (which is always under construction) I recall seeing more than a few trees with 2-3’ wells around the trunks where construction required grade changes that were happy.