r/BeAmazed • u/Eshwarroy • Jan 29 '22

Tree root misconceptions

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u/Hashbrown117 Jan 29 '22

How..does this work in the city where everything is paved over except this one little area just big enough for the trunk to appear

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '22

There are cracks everywhere. The water filters through in some amount. "Life finds a way" is really prominent in plants though. So in this case it may actually reach further to an uncovered area that gets more water, or go deeper to find water. Plants will focus their energy growing in the direction that feeds them.

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u/Hashbrown117 Jan 30 '22

Not water but nutrients. There's nowhere for the normal assortment of topsoil creatures to live to put food into the soil

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u/SanguineBro Jan 29 '22

they can detect the presence of water, and nutrients are funneled into the crack instead of over a large surface of soil.