A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Shrubs and Trees My Holly Tree

Greetings. I have what I would call a mature (it's 15 plus feet in height) holly tree planted in a side courtyard made of cut blue stone. One of the blue stone squares is rising up from the courtyard floor. I lifted the blue stone and set it aside. I noticed one of the roots of the holly tree root system has grown so large in circumference as to cause the blue stone square to rise up.

Question: Can I safely prune or otherwise cut into this specific root of the holly tree? Is it likely that the tree has a number of main roots and so if I were to sever this particular root, the tree would not suffer significantly? Please advise -- and thanks.

It won't hurt to cut it. Make sure the cut is not ragged, a clean cut will heal better. You can safely cut a few roots anytime they cause problems.