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My recently planted mulberry tree is about 15 feet long. It appears to be growing okay but what I learned is that the growth will be very limited as the area surrounding it is mostly impervious (using bricks & cement). The area where it is planted and I water it is about 4ft x 2ft. I water it well every 3rd day. The soil is mostly sand.

What do you think? Will it grow into a full tree or am I just wasting my time? ? I do not plan on removing impervious surface.

Find below an image of the tree area enter image description here

EresDev
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  • How far does the cement go? The roots will grow out underneath a long way. – Polypipe Wrangler Jul 01 '22 at 04:12
  • @PolypipeWrangler The top layer is about 2-inch bricks and cement is just used to attach those bricks together and fill holes between them. It doesn't go deeper than the first 2 inches. Below 2 inches is just sand. I know roots will grow out. But as the surface is impervious, there is no water or air going there. What do you think? Will roots still keep growing if the surrounding underneath area is dry? – EresDev Jul 01 '22 at 09:31
  • Will root follow the water and go deeper in direction of the water instead of trying to find nutrients on the top layer? Because I hear roots usually spread in the top layer of the soil. – EresDev Jul 01 '22 at 09:47

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It's hardly an ideal situation for the tree, but it may tolerate it. Bricks and cement are "impervious" from a high-speed flow point of view (what happens in a downpour of heavy rain) but fairly permeable at a slower rate unless there's some waterproofing layer applied to the surface.

If it manages to grow enough, the roots will likely break up the surface in time. Tree roots will break much thicker masonry constructions with enough time - they are slow but strong. 2" of cemented brick is not much of a challenge, if the tree survives. "Pure sand" might be a problem from a tree survival point of view, depending how accurate that is for soil composition.

Ecnerwal
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  • When i water it, water goes somewhere. Will the roots not follow it and grow in that direction only? Because rest of the area doesn't have much water. – EresDev Jul 02 '22 at 19:36
  • About only sand, it is not pure sand, but mostly sand. And I have added compost to its plating area. – EresDev Jul 02 '22 at 19:36