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CU-Soil™ is a major innovation in urban tree planting technology, which creates a porous, oxygen-filled rootzone, while maintaining the structural durability to support concrete, asphalt, or other hard surfaces for roadways, car parks, footpaths and more. |
| Landtech Soils Ltd is a licensed producer of Cornell University's CU-Structural Soil® for Ireland and the UK. Also known as CU-Soil™, this revolutionary product provides a greatly improved growing environment for street trees, car park islands, traffic medians and more. |
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The Urban Tree Soil mix for the successful establishment of Trees in the Urban Environment. |
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| The urban environment desperately needs the presence of trees. In addition to the welcome shade that they provide along streets and heavily built areas, trees also act as oxygen generators, noise reducers and - in general- they add beauty to the jungle of concrete and asphalt. Trees planted in the urban environment are faced with a multitude of problems: extreme heat in the summer, cold and wind burn (wind channelled through high buildings) pollution and many other adverse elements. |
In addition to the adverse issues above, there is still one major challenge to be faced: The limited space available for tree roots to grow ! This is a major problem for all urban planting, the lack of useable soil volume for root growth is a major limiting factor for tree growth, since trees are often an afterthought in city planning and streescape design. |
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When roots encounter dense soil, they change direction, stop growing, or adapt by remaining abnormally close to the surface. This superficial rooting makes urban trees more vulnerable to damage and can cause pavement heaving. However, if a dense soil is waterlogged, tree roots can also rot from lack of oxygen. Ongoing construction, including footpath and road repair, disturbs and compacts soil, crushing any macropores in the soil aggregates , these are the large pore spaces that are necessary in the root zone to retain air and water and to provide space in which the roots can grow. |
| Loss of macropores has three negative consequences: restricted aeration, diminished water drainage, and creating a dense soil that is difficult for roots to penetrate. These effects limit useable rooting space. |
| A major barrier to establishing trees in paved, urban areas is the lack of an adequate volume of soil for tree root growth. Typically soils under pavement are highly compacted to meet load-bearing requirements and engineering standards. The roots subsequently stop growing because they are contained in very small amounts of soil. This causes urban trees to grow poorly and die prematurely. It is estimated that trees planted in urban settings in traditional and urban soils die 7-10 years after being planted. |
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Figure 2 - Cu-Soil ™ - Stone / Soil Matrix |
CU-Structural Soil® - is an innovative, patented mixture - is used for plantings in and around pavements and walkways and has proven to be especially beneficial in urban areas. It dramatically extends urban tree life, provides optimal rooting space under pavements, requires no special compaction tests, prevents footpaths and paved surfaces heaving, and reduces the potential for liability claims. |
CU-Structural Soil® eliminates the common problem of compacted soil! It utilizes a unique mixture of crushed stone, soil and hydrogel. The crushed stone consolidates easily and creates large pores in between the stone. Soil then fills these cavities. The roots penetrate the cavities for soil, water and air, and the stone forms a rigid, load-bearing base. CU-Structural Soil® allows for healthy root growth and helps extend the life of urban trees. |
This mixture, also know as CU-Soil™, overcomes a conundrum that has vexed urban planners for years, the problem of achieving a successful balance between the provision of a root zone that will allow tree roots the needed room to breathe and grow and the engineering demands for the construction of stable surface that can stand up to the weight and abuse of cars and trucks. |
| Up to now the situation has been for developers to plant trees in a pit in the pavement just large enough to get a sapling into the ground. But with nowhere for maturing roots to wander, these trees often die within 7 to 15 years. |
| CU-Structural Soil®, by contrast, provides urban planners with a rock-hard surface on which to pour pavement while still giving growing tree roots plenty of room to stretch. |
| "The whole thing is one of engineering of trees into infrastructure so they have the best chance of success from the get-go, not shoehorning them in as an afterthought," said Gregory McPherson, director of the U.S. Forest Service's Center for Urban Forest Research in Davis , California. |
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Please call for quotation. Prices are subject to change |
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