What are the main differences between forest soil and urban soil?

Forest soil is rich in microorganisms, moisture, and organic matter, while urban soil tends to be compacted, dry, and lacking in nutrients and air—making it harder for trees to thrive.

Why do urban trees grow faster but become weaker than forest trees?

Urban trees often grow faster because they face less competition for light and space, but this unchecked growth can lead to structural weaknesses, making them more prone to breakage without proper pruning.

How can lawn equipment and landscaping chemicals harm trees?

Damage from lawnmowers and weedwhackers can injure tree trunks, and chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers can harm roots or beneficial soil organisms—contributing to long-term tree stress.

What are simple ways to support healthy urban trees?

To help urban trees thrive, avoid soil compaction, don’t use lawn chemicals near root zones, add organic matter like compost and wood chips, and prune selectively to build strong structure.

Video | 8 Ways City Life Stresses Trees (& What You Can Do)

We often hear, “trees do perfectly fine in the forest without any help, so why should I care for my trees?”

Hi I’m Archie. I’m an arborist, and today we are going to talk about the unique challenges that your trees face when not in the forest.

The first obstacle is the soil. In the forest, the soil is alive and packed with microorganisms, full of moisture, and not very dense. Unlike the urban ground, which is often lacking nutrients, is dry, and contains very little air. We have a whole video about fixing the soil here... here! But the key is to add organic matter like compost and wood chips.

Urban trees tend to grow faster. Which at first may seem like a good thing, but because they lack competition from the other trees, they tend to over grow. This makes them weaker and easier to break. Like my heart, sobs… This is why we selectively prune our trees to encourage a good form and to grow strong.

People often stress the trees they care for. Things like lawnmower or weedwhacker damage to the tree’s trunks, soil compaction from repeated driving or walking in tree’s root zone, there is also chemical damage from things like pesticides, herbicide, and fertilizers. The best way to deal with the human stressors is to avoid them in the first place. This is why you need to give trees plenty of room and don’t use any chemicals on your lawn.

We love having trees in our neighborhoods, our yards, and our towns, but we need to know what the trees need be happy and healthy. By incorporating trees and green spaces into human space we can solve many of our environmental issues, so we can live with our trees for a long time to come.