Tried the girdling root trick on my silver maple and the root flare showed up in the wrong spot

Oliver Torres · 2026-10-19T15:45:06.903952+00:00

I've been pruning a 40-year-old silver maple in my backyard for three seasons now, and this spring I finally dug down about 8 inches to check for girdling roots like a guy at the ISA chapter meeting in Tulsa told me to. I found two roots circling the trunk and cut them, but now the flare looks lopsided and one side of the tree is pushing new shoots way lower than the other. I'm worried I cut too much or dug too deep and maybe nicked something I shouldn't have, since it's been about six weeks and the leaves on that side look a little thin. The soil here in Norman is heavy clay so I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is transplant shock or actual damage from my digging. Has anyone dealt with a flare that came up uneven after root work, and did it even out on its own or did you have to do something else?

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Tried the girdling root trick on my silver maple and the root flare showed up in the wrong spot | Arborists - The Community Guide