Called BS on that foam root pruning trick... now I eat my words

My old boss swore by squirting that spray foam into potted trees to air prune the roots. I thought it was the dumbest thing I ever heard, figured it would just rot the whole root ball. Got a big job last spring planting 40 maples for a new housing development outside Denver and the supplier recommended it. Did half with the foam, half without to prove a point. Dug them up three months later and the foam trees had way more fine roots, no circling at all. Hate being wrong but that stuff actually worked. Anybody else tried this or got a different method for container trees?

2 comments

2 Comments

karenb975d ago

That "hate being wrong" part really hit me lol. It's crazy how often the stuff we think is stupid ends up being the game changer. I've noticed this pattern in so many areas, like how people swear by old school methods but the new weird trick actually fixes the core problem. The foam thing makes sense if you think about it... roots hit air and stop circling, which is basically what root pruning pots do but way cheaper. Kinda reminds me of how sometimes the jankiest looking DIY solution works better than the expensive fancy tool you bought.

the_parker5d ago

97% of the time the janky fix works better because it actually solves the problem instead of just looking good in the store. Been burnt enough to know that's the truth @karenb97.