Air Spading & Biochar

Air-spading is using compressed air to excavate the soil around tree roots

What is Air Spading?

Air spading is less harmful to the roots than using a mechanical excavator which would cut and tear roots, and much faster and more thorough than the traditional method of having to dig around the roots by hand.

Air spading can help with:

Soil decompaction

Often in urban areas the air space in the soil has been reduced due to compression of the soil by traffic or building works. We can use the air spade to open up the soil and re-introduce air below ground level.

Assess root function

By being able to remove the soil from around the roots without causing excessive damage, our surveyors are able to inspect the roots and make an assessment of any suspected fungal root decay or root area dysfunction and provide recommendations.

Show the location of the tree roots

Planners and developers have to be careful of not causing damage to trees, so being able to confirm the location of tree roots is beneficial, especially when looking at foundations, roadways and pathways. In these sorts of instance, air spading has become a commonly requested planning requirement.

 

What is Biochar?

Biochar is a form of charcoal created by heating organic material from plants and animals, to high temperatures with no oxygen.

Biochar helps improve the soil fertility, and tree surgeons have seen some impressive results when using biochar with saplings and mature or veteran trees.

How to use biochar                            

Saplings – biochar can be added to the soil when planting a new tree and seems to help the tree establish more rapidly and perform better, with a greater disease resistance than those planted without.

Mature or Veteran trees – we can use our airspade to create a grid system of holes across the rooting zone of the tree. We can then insert the biochar into the hole and use the airspade to flush it down into the ground. These biochar ‘injections’ have been seen to help rejuvenate the soil and increase vigour and vitality in mature or veteran trees.