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Tree Leaning With Lifted Roots
The tree has taken on a lean and the ground on the opposite side has cracked, domed or lifted at the base.
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What's happening?
There is a critical difference between a tree that has always leaned and a tree that has started to lean. A long-standing lean is normal — trees grow towards light and lay down extra wood to cope. A new lean, especially with disturbed soil at the base, means the root plate is failing. The tell-tale sign is the ground on the side away from the lean: as the plate rotates, it lifts and cracks the soil into a low dome, sometimes with roots visible or a gap opening at the trunk. That is a partial windthrow. It has not fallen because the remaining roots are still holding, and those roots are carrying more load than they were designed to. Wet ground and the next strong wind are all it needs.
What usually causes it?
- Root plate rotation in saturated ground after prolonged rain, reducing anchorage
- Roots severed by trenching, foundations, a new driveway or a fence line on one side of the tree
- Root and butt decay reducing the anchoring roots, often with a bracket fungus at the base
- A crown that has become one-sided or top-heavy, increasing the leverage in wind
- Made-up ground, shallow soil over rock or a compacted plot restricting root spread
- Loss of shelter after a neighbouring tree, hedge or building was removed
- Soil erosion or a change in levels undermining the root plate on one side
Is it dangerous?
Yes. A tree with a lifting root plate is a tree in the process of falling, and the direction is largely predictable while the timing is not. Stay out of the fall zone in both directions, because the plate can also drop back. Do not park, sit or store anything under it, and keep children away from the disturbed ground at the base — the crack can open further without warning. Treat it as urgent if the lean has increased in the last few weeks, if the base is cracked or domed, if you can see roots that were previously buried, or if the tree could reach the house, a boundary, a road or a neighbour's property.
Can I fix it myself?
Measure it rather than guess. Photograph the trunk against a fixed vertical — a downpipe, a fence post, a corner of the house — and repeat weekly from the same spot, so you know whether the lean is moving. Look at the ground on the side opposite the lean for cracks, doming or lifted turf, and at the base for a gap between the trunk and the soil. Note anything within reach of the tree if it fell. Do not prop it, do not strap it to a fence or another tree, and do not cut roots to tidy the ground — all three make the situation worse. Watering, staking and mulching belong to young trees, not to a mature tree with a failing plate.
When should you call a tree surgeon?
Call a tree surgeon within days, not months, once the base shows disturbed or lifted soil, and immediately if the lean has visibly increased or the tree could reach a building, a road or a neighbour. Ask for an assessment rather than a price to fell — the answer is sometimes a crown reduction to lower the wind load, and sometimes removal, and only looking at the root plate settles it. If the tree is protected, that shapes the paperwork, not the urgency.
What will the tree surgeon actually do?
- Inspect the root plate, the base and the surrounding ground for cracking, doming, cavities and severed roots
- Check the butt and buttress roots for decay and fungal brackets that explain the loss of anchorage
- Assess crown balance and the wind loading the remaining roots are being asked to hold
- Recommend either a crown reduction to reduce the sail, or removal where anchorage has gone
- Carry out the reduction or the dismantle from a rope or a platform, taking the weight down in sections
- Grind or excavate the stump and root plate on removal, and reinstate the ground that has lifted
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