To avoid lengthening that last post any more, I’m posting a couple more photos of trees with buried root flares here. These are pear trees; in the first photo, you can see moss growing on the trunk just above what had been the root ball grade when the tree was planted.
Note the wound behind the ruler, and the adventitious shoot coming off the trunk -- one a reason for stress, the other a sign of it
Beside the fact that a tree with a buried root flare is a stressed tree, the extra soil heaped against the bark can conceal injuries or root problems that would otherwise be evident. You can see the edge of a wound behind the ruler, which had been covered by soil at planting. The adventitious shoot coming out of the trunk just above finish grade is also a sign of stress.
This next photo shows two pear trees, planted at the same time and at the same size, two years before this photo was taken. The tree on the left is the one in the previous photo; the tree on the right had minimal root flare burial. Growth of the tree on the left has been set back by several seasons.
Deborah Howe
Taking Place 