What we do
Rootivate’s mission is simple: to save and protect as many trees as we can. We’re proud to offer a solution that’s more successful at saving trees than any other option in the industry. Besides being much more cost-effective than removing and replacing a mature tree, between 90 and 95% of all trees treated with Rootivate and methods listed in a Rootivate Growth Plan are restored to normal (if not accelerated) growth. And that’s just the beginning.
Our team also believes saving trees can be instrumental in making communities more successful and vibrant, whether that be because the air is healthier, because trees provide shelter and resources for other plants and animals, or because a tire swing will be a memory your kids look back on for years to come. People say to start where you’re planted if you want to make a massive change. We say to start in your own yard.
“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
Get in touch
Our team is ready to help you get started with your Rootivate Growth Plan. The first step is meeting with a specialist to assess the health of the trees on your lot.
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Before and after
The two properties shared here experienced treatment between the years of 2009 and 2012. Each tree was in a stage of decline and treated with Rootivate over this period, resulting in the changes seen above. The first two photos are of a property in Houston, Texas (left, before in 2010; right, after in 2012). The second set of photos highlight in a property in North Dallas (left, before in 2009; right, after in 2012).
The science behind Rootivate
Understanding balance
A tree grows in a particular place where it can get necessary resources available from the environment: light, water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, minerals, space to grow canopy, and space to grow roots. A successful tree is in equilibrium with its environment, and to remain so, it must grow at a rate sufficient to meet its needs. Trees must grow vigorously to overcome the natural attrition by their environment such as the occasional defoliation by insects, wind, or drought; loss of live limbs with stored food, rips and tears to the bark; and, very importantly, the continuous action of the live component of the soil—fungi, bacteria, and insects—on the roots.
In order to produce food, a tree needs sunlight on the leaves and water and minerals available to be absorbed by the roots and transported to the leaves through the trunk and limbs for the production of plant sugars by photosynthesis. It is from these substances that all of the structures of the tree are produced and supported. This collection of resources is, in turn, dependent upon the structures of the tree—leaves, fractal branching of canopy, limbs, trunk, and roots—which, in turn, are grown by and comprise the tree itself. Anything that interrupts that system threatens the existence of the tree.
Annual Growth Cycles and Threats
As a tree grows, it adds new layers of wood each year on top of the previous annual layer. This means a tree must grow a larger amount of wood and bark each year in order to cover the previous year’s growth as well as stems and leaves, and, continuously, new roots. It is fundamentally important that a tree replace its water absorption capacity on a continuing basis because the parts of the tree that absorb the vast majority of the water it needs are microscopic cellulose single cell extensions near the tip of the root called “root hairs.” Root hairs are temporary and subject to attrition by the live component of the soil as well as interruption by the growth of a cork layer as the root enlarge.
In addition to the gas exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide necessary for photosynthesis by leaves and green twigs, trees also must be able to do a gas exchange at the root—that is, absorb oxygen and release carbon dioxide. “Encroachment,” which results in an interruption in the collection or storage of resources in a tree, is the cause of decline. This can be root damage due to the use of heavy equipment, trenching, soil compaction, loss of a large live limb, or dramatic change in sunlight or ambient temperatures. It can also be flooding, drought, or the inability of a tree to do a gas exchange at the root when covered during the building of buildings; swimming pools; or new paving such as sidewalks, driveways, patios, and streets. The crucial part of the event of encroachment is that a tree is deprived of water either because of lack of sufficient water in the environment; root damage or root loss. Insufficient water in the tree means that the tree shocks. Unlike tropical plants which droop, woody trees show out-of-season leaf drop, fewer leaves, wilted or completely dry leaves, and yellowing.
The systemic, cross-species response of trees to the interruption of the equilibrium of the system of a tree is a drop in the rate of mitosis, sometimes by as much as 80% to 90% of normal. Shocking from a deficit of water in the system turns the rate of mitosis down and can kill a tree suddenly causing the tree to disorganize and the rate of growth to stop completely. In a tree that survives the initial shock, the rate of growth declines, fewer root hairs are produced, lateral buds on twigs do not elongate, and fewer leaves are grown. When the rate of growth (mitosis) drops, the continuous replacement of root hairs and their water absorption capacity is interrupted. Subsequently, a tree loses the ability to absorb water. This means even when there is enough water in the environment a tree in decline cannot absorb sufficient water to meet its needs because it lacks sufficient root capacity. When the water starvation occurs it can become apparent quickly. Water starvation explains all the features of a tree in “decline”—loss of canopy, dying back from the tips, water sprouts on the trunk and limbs, yellowing (chlorosis) of foliage, and death of the tree.