Stumbled onto a weird trick for spotting root rot before it spreads

Was doing a routine check on a big old oak in a client's yard near Charlotte last week. The leaves looked fine but something felt off with the soil around the base. I stuck a metal probe in about 6 inches deep and pulled it out smelling like rotten eggs. Told the homeowner we needed to dig around the buttress roots and sure enough found a hidden fungal patch starting at the root flare. Has anyone else used the smell test like this or am I just lucky so far?

3 comments

3 Comments

kelly_hill2mo ago

Oh man, I've definitely had my nose get me out of trouble before... kinda hard to forget that rotten egg smell once you've caught it! I used the smell test on a maple in my own yard once and felt like a total goofball standing there sniffing a metal rod, but sure enough there was a fungal issue hiding down there. Better to look silly and save the tree than pretend I'm too cool for a whiff test, right?

smith.jordan2mo ago

The first time I did that root flare test on a maple in my backyard I felt ridiculous too. It was this big old maple I'd been worried about for months and the smell was like wet gym socks mixed with dirt. Honestly smelling that rot saved me from a tree falling on my shed that next spring.

mason_lee13d ago

...and next thing you know you're the weirdo on the block sniffing dirt rods. @kelly_hill gets it though, the payoff is worth looking like a total goober. I've had a few close calls where the leaves were totally fine but the stink told the real story. One time I pulled a probe out of a linden tree and it smelled like a biology experiment gone wrong, saved me from a dead tree six months later. Better to be the guy with the nose than the guy with a tree through his garage roof.