I finally tried spike plates on 45 year old oaks and now I feel dumb about waiting
A client in Roseville has three mature oaks with compacted soil around a new patio, and I told him last spring that aeration pipes were just a way to sell equipment. I put spike plates on my mini skid in April, ran them 8 inches deep on a grid, and by August the roots were pushing new growth into those channels. Anyone else running them on older trees, and what spacing are you using to keep from wrecking surface roots?