[abugheratwork]

I don't know about your hackberry in particular. This has been a topic of fascination for me, though.

Trees connect to each other via symbiotic root fungi called "mycorrhizae". Any given species of plant probably has several species of fungus with which it is compatible. The fungus and the plant form a mutually beneficial pair, but the fungus can additionally connect to other nearby plants. Then you have a network, potentially with multiple plant species.

The network can be used for nutrient storage (summer to winter), nutrient transfer (to offspring), or chemical signalling. ("Bugs attacking. Get ready.") Different species are known to support each other, giving nutrients back and forth and different times of year. Of course, the black walnut will use the network to poison its neighbors.

Playing in my flower pots, I have observed that plants growing right next to sweet potatoes or succulents do better when I forget to water them, but I haven't measured that. In my mind, they're leaching water from their neighbors through the network.

So, it's complicated, and there is such a thing as a bad actor on the network, but basically I don't think your tree will be lonely. I'm optimistic.

[hinkley]

Roots of the same species can fuse directly. It helps canopy tree species grow up inside of an already closed canopy, and similar to mycorrhizal networks, can spread around sugars and water.