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Stumped by Tree Troubles? We're Here for You! - Get Your FREE Estimates!
By
Big Easy Tree Removal 
Jun 10, 2026 
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Starving a tree means cutting the pathway that carries sugars from the leaves down to the roots, which is done by girdling: a complete ring cut through bark and cambium around the trunk. The roots exhaust their reserves and the tree dies from the bottom up, typically over a full growing season or longer in New Orleans. Far more local trees are killed by accidental girdling from stake ties and circling roots than by anyone doing it on purpose. Big Easy Tree Removal helps New Orleans property owners find and fix accidental girdling before it kills a tree.
Table of Contents
Starving a tree is a real technique with real biology behind it, and it is also, in New Orleans, something that happens by accident to far more trees than anyone deliberately targets. Every year, healthy young oaks around the city die because a nylon stake tie was never removed, or because a root that circled inside a nursery container kept circling after planting. The mechanism is identical to intentional girdling. Understanding how a tree starves is therefore useful in two directions: it explains what deliberate girdling involves, and it explains a common cause of local tree death that is entirely preventable. Here is how Big Easy Tree Removal sees it play out on local properties.
A tree moves sugars made in the leaves down to the roots through the phloem, a layer of living tissue just beneath the bark. Sever that layer completely around the trunk and the roots receive nothing, so they burn through stored reserves and eventually die, taking the tree with them.
The direction of the disruption is the key to understanding why this works slowly. Water still moves upward through the sapwood, which sits inside the cut, so the canopy stays green and looks healthy for a considerable time after the connection is severed. The tree above the cut is fine. The roots below it are cut off from their food supply.
Death comes from the bottom up. As root reserves are exhausted, the root system loses function, water uptake declines, and only then does the canopy start to show it. That is why a girdled tree can look normal for a full season before decline becomes obvious.
Reserve size sets the timeline. A small tree may die within a single growing season. A large mature tree with substantial stored carbohydrates can take considerably longer. In south Louisiana the long growing season means the roots have more months of activity to burn reserves, but it also means the tree has more time to attempt recovery.
The technique is simple to describe and easy to do badly, and most failed attempts fail for the same handful of reasons.
The ring has to be complete. Any remaining strip of intact bark and cambium, however narrow, provides a route for sugars to keep reaching the roots. A tree left with a connected strip may survive indefinitely with a permanent defect at that point, which is the worst possible outcome.
It has to be deep enough. Removing only the outer bark accomplishes nothing. The cut needs to sever the cambium and phloem beneath it, which means cutting into the wood surface.
It has to be wide enough. A narrow cut can be bridged as the tree grows callus tissue across the gap. Trees are good at compartmentalizing and repairing damage, and a thin cut in a vigorous tree may simply heal over.
Beyond technique, there is a biological reason attempts fail. Trees respond to injury by walling it off and routing function around it. A vigorous tree in a favorable climate has considerable capacity to do this, and our nine month growing season gives it plenty of opportunity.
There is one more mode of failure that people rarely anticipate. Some species respond to girdling by sending up vigorous sprouts from the base and roots, below the cut. Those sprouts have leaves, produce sugars, and resupply the root system. Chinese tallow, which is established across Orleans and Jefferson Parishes, behaves exactly this way, which is why girdling alone rarely finishes it.
This is the part of the topic that matters to most people reading it, because accidental girdling kills a great many trees around New Orleans.
| Cause | How it happens | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| Stake ties left on | Temporary ties forgotten, trunk grows into them | Look for wire, nylon, or hose at trunk height |
| Girdling roots | Container roots keep circling after planting | Look for roots crossing the base of the trunk |
| Wire, cable, or rope | Anything wrapped around a trunk and left | Inspect the full circumference at the base |
| String trimmer damage | Repeated bark wounds around the base | Look for scarring at mower height |
| Fence or hardware | Trunk grows into a fence attached to it | Check trees along fence lines |
Girdling roots are the most common and the hardest to spot, and they trace back to two things: container stock whose circling roots were not corrected at planting, and planting too deep. A tree planted with its flare buried is markedly more likely to develop them.
The warning signs of an accidentally girdled tree are worth knowing. A trunk that goes into the ground straight-sided with no visible flare, a flattened or indented area on one side of the base, thinning canopy without a pest or disease explanation, and early fall color are all suggestive. Caught early enough, removing a tie or correcting a root often saves the tree.
There is a safety dimension too. A girdled trunk has a mechanical weak point, and girdled trees frequently fail at exactly that spot in high wind. In hurricane country that turns a slow health problem into a structural risk.
Typically a full growing season for a small tree and longer for a large one, sometimes two or three years. The canopy can look healthy for most of that period.
The delayed appearance of symptoms is why accidental girdling goes undiagnosed so often. By the time a tree visibly declines, the tie or root responsible has usually been in place for years and nobody connects the two.
Often yes if it is caught before the girdling ring is complete and decay has not set in. Removing a tie or cutting a girdling root can allow the tree to recover.
Timing determines the outcome. A tie removed before it has cut deeply leaves a scar and little else. A root that has already compressed a large portion of the trunk circumference is a harder case, and cutting it has its own risks to stability. Either way, a tree with a partially girdled trunk should be assessed for structural weakness even if it recovers in health.
No. Species that sprout vigorously from the base and roots can resupply themselves from below the cut.
Chinese tallow is the local example that defeats girdling most reliably. Anything that was already suckering around its base before you started will do so far more aggressively afterward.
If girdling succeeds, the result is a dead tree still standing on the property, and in New Orleans that outcome deserves careful thought.
Dead wood is brittle rather than flexible, so it fails instead of bending under wind loading. Decay begins immediately and progresses quickly in this warm, humid climate, concentrating in the root collar and major branch unions. Within a season or two, a killed tree can become genuinely unpredictable.
Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, and a decayed tree standing through it in soil that saturates ahead of storms is a poor combination. Property owners generally bear responsibility for hazards they know about, and deliberately killing a tree documents that knowledge.
Removal is also harder and more expensive once a tree is dead, because rigging depends on wood strong enough to hold loads. Killing a tree you intend to remove anyway typically raises the eventual cost. Where a tree needs to go, straightforward tree removal while it is still sound is the cleaner route.
Louisiana Revised Statute 3:4278.1 makes it unlawful to cut, fell, destroy, or remove trees on the land of another without consent, and provides for civil damages of three times the fair market value plus reasonable attorney fees and costs. The statute can reach good faith violations where someone should have been aware they lacked consent.
Girdling is unambiguously destroying a tree for these purposes, and the fact that it works slowly does not change that. Confirm the property line with a survey rather than the fence line, and treat any tree standing on a boundary as a shared question rather than a unilateral decision.
Permits are separate. Trees in the public right-of-way and on neutral grounds fall under the New Orleans Department of Parks and Parkways, and the City Council approved a Tree Protection Ordinance in March 2025, so confirm current requirements before acting. For a real dispute or an unclear boundary, get advice from a Louisiana attorney.
Big Easy Tree Removal is locally owned and operated, and a surprising number of declining trees around New Orleans turn out to have something wrapped around the trunk or a root pressing into it. Those are among the most satisfying problems to find, because catching them early usually saves the tree.
We serve New Orleans, Metairie, Kenner, River Ridge, Harahan, Laplace, Slidell, Mandeville, and throughout Louisiana.
Call 504-732-1166 if a young tree is declining and you have not checked its base.
Severing the phloem, the layer beneath the bark that carries sugars from leaves to roots. The roots exhaust their reserves and the tree dies from the bottom up.
Usually a full growing season for a small tree and longer for a large one. The canopy often looks healthy for most of that time.
Most often the ring was incomplete, too shallow to sever the cambium, or narrow enough for the tree to callus across. Some species also sprout from below the cut.
Yes. A tie left on as the trunk expands girdles it exactly like a deliberate cut, and this kills many young trees around New Orleans.
Look at the base. If the trunk enters the ground straight-sided with no flare, or a root crosses against the trunk, girdling roots are likely.
Yes. Constriction creates a mechanical weak point, and girdled trees often fail at that spot in high wind.
The length of time it takes to starve a tree varies greatly, depending on the species of the tree, its size and age, as well as environmental factors such as rainfall and soil nutrients. Generally speaking, it can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months for a tree to die due to lack of nutrition. To ensure success in starving a tree, you should deprive it of sustenance over an extended period of time. For young trees, this could mean withholding water or fertilizer for weeks or months. For older trees with extensive root systems, however, depriving them of oxygen by covering them with plastic or burying them may be necessary in addition to withholding food.
There are several reasons for starving a tree, the primary being to remove unwanted trees from your landscape or garden. Starving a tree can be an effective and cost-efficient way to eliminate troublesome trees without having to physically remove them. The process usually takes 1-2 years and results in the tree being weakened and slowly dying off. Depending on the size of the tree and its health, it may also be safer than attempting to cut it down or relying on other chemical methods such as herbicides. Starving a tree also keeps it from producing unwanted debris, which helps reduce clutter and potential hazards during stormy weather.
There are several signs that a tree is being starved, including:
1. Slow or stunted growth – If a tree does not have enough nutrients from water and food, then it will not have the energy to grow and put out new leaves or branches.
2.Yellowing Leaves – When a tree doesn’t get enough nutrients, its leaves may start to turn yellow before they dry up and fall off.
3.Smaller Leaves – Trees deprived of proper nutrition will produce smaller leaves that may curl or appear shriveled.
4. Dropping Fruit – Healthy fruit on healthy trees don’t just fall off; when a tree isn’t getting what it needs, the fruit can dry up and drop prematurely.
5. Wilting Branches – A starving tree will lose vigor in its trunk and limbs; this usually manifests as drooping limbs that appear to be wilted or lacking strength.
Killing a tree by starving it is not an easy process and takes a lot of time and effort, but with patience and dedication, it can be done. The key to successfully killing a tree by starving it is to eliminate its access to water and nutrients. This can be done in several ways.
The first method is to deprive the tree of water completely. If planted in soil, set up barriers such as plastic or asphalt to block water from reaching the roots, otherwise provide less than the necessary amount of water for the species of the tree or withhold all water for extended periods.
Another way that can be used is to deny the tree access to nutrients from the soil. This can be done by removing soil from around the base of the tree’s trunk or compacting soil around its roots. Creating an unfavorable environment for water drainage and air flow are also essential steps in this process.
Additionally, trees can be killed by cutting off their access to photosynthesis. Covering the leaves with something impermeable such as tarp or plastic sheeting will prevent them from absorbing sunlight which they need to survive.
Overall, killing a tree by starving it requires patience and dedication but if done correctly could be successful in eliminating it from your property.
The most effective methods for starving a tree involve depriving it of the essential elements needed for survival – water, air, and nutrients. This can be done in several ways:
1) Limiting Water Supply: Trees need a steady supply of water to survive, so by cutting off its access to water, you can slowly weaken it. This can be done by surrounding the tree with plastic or concrete barriers that channel away excess rainwater or irrigation and decrease exposure to dew or condensation. Additionally, masking the soil around the root zone with mulch can help retain water and create an environment in which the tree can’t uptake necessary moisture.
2) Exposing Roots: One way to limit a tree’s access to oxygen is by exposing its root system. To do this, dig up the soil around the base of the trunk until all large roots are exposed and then cover them with tarps or plastic sheets in order to prevent them from getting air. As an extra precaution, you can seal any cracks in hard surfaces surrounding the tree (e.g. sidewalks and roads).
3) Deprived Nutrients: Lastly, removing all sources of nutrients for a tree is one sure-fire way to starve it out of existence. To do this, apply herbicide or fungicides around the trunk and be sure to follow application instructions closely; if used excessively these chemicals may have a negative effect on nearby plants.
Ultimately, keeping trees adequately hydrated and properly fertilized is essential for their survival; never allow them to become starved of sustenance as it will eventually lead to their demise!
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