I’ve never seen a girdling root in the forest, but that isn’t to say it can’t happen. Most girdling roots, however, are probably human faults, the way they may have been grown at a nursery, or the way they may have been transplanted. Trees may not be super intelligent, but they’ve probably figured out how to grow by now. Leave it up to us to mess that up…

I remember landscaping down in Connecticut and seeing an entire yard of Norway maples all about the same age, and all dying young. Most had girdling roots, and our suspicion was that they were transplanted bare root, and the person planting the trees dug small holes, and ‘spun’ the tree around in a circle to get the tree to fit in the hole.

You’ll also see girdling roots in pot bound plants, and should carefully prune those away when planting.