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[Schmaven]

So I had let my obsidian farm go fallow for a few years, and it sprouted some trees.  'Nothing a little magma can't take care of' I thought as I flooded them with magma, followed by water on top. 

It turns out the tree growths block the water from obsidian casting the magma underneath them.  And then when your miners channel out the square next to it, magma disperses out and catches the trees and dwarves on fire. 

To stop this, I simply paved the whole obsidian farm area with a road of obsidian blocks.  But on the next casting attempt, not a single obsidian boulder was obtained from channeling out two 13 x 14 areas of freshly cast obsidian.  So now I have to deconstruct those roads...

Don't make my mistake.  Just chop the trees if they grow.  Don't bother paving it to stop them.  Though now I'm curious if the same issue holds true for regularly constructed floors? 

[Magistrum]

Yep, the accumulated dirt on the tile from the water is sufficient for growing everything. Back with single tile trees it was also common to get narrow soil corridors that weren't used very frequently blocked by a random tree.

[Loud Whispers]

Regularly constructed floors are fine. A really cheap way to stop your muddy areas from getting overgrown (assuming you don't want to go through the trouble of clearing out the mud) is just to put a big farm over everything

[Garrie]

...

To stop this, I simply paved the whole obsidian farm area with a road of obsidian blocks.  But on the next casting attempt, not a single obsidian boulder was obtained from channeling out two 13 x 14 areas of freshly cast obsidian.  So now I have to deconstruct those roads...
...

a "dirt road" would be sufficient and be constructed right there using the med the water left behind.

If it can grow trees, you can make a dirt road on it. The point of a dirt road is to stop vegetation (I don't think it gives a movement bonus, but I might be wrong on that).

[Schmaven]

...

To stop this, I simply paved the whole obsidian farm area with a road of obsidian blocks.  But on the next casting attempt, not a single obsidian boulder was obtained from channeling out two 13 x 14 areas of freshly cast obsidian.  So now I have to deconstruct those roads...
...

a "dirt road" would be sufficient and be constructed right there using the med the water left behind.

If it can grow trees, you can make a dirt road on it. The point of a dirt road is to stop vegetation (I don't think it gives a movement bonus, but I might be wrong on that).

I'll have to try that, I assumed dirt roads would prevent obsidian casting just like paved roads do, but I never tested it. 

[Loud Whispers]

I'll have to try that, I assumed dirt roads would prevent obsidian casting just like paved roads do, but I never tested it.

Dirt roads effectively replace the shrubs, fungus, grass, plants, saplings and whatever else with furrowed soil. The furrowed soil will eventually be recolonised by organic stuff but you can otherwise cast obsidian, build anything or reestablish a dirt road over the designated area

[Quietust]

I'll have to try that, I assumed dirt roads would prevent obsidian casting just like paved roads do, but I never tested it.

Dirt roads effectively replace the shrubs, fungus, grass, plants, saplings and whatever else with furrowed soil. The furrowed soil will eventually be recolonised by organic stuff but you can otherwise cast obsidian, build anything or reestablish a dirt road over the designated area

In addition, dirt roads technically cease to exist once construction finishes - this is why you need to periodically rebuild them, and why paved roads tend to be superior.

I'm curious, though, what type of obsidian farm you're actually using - the common 3-layer bridge model (lava at bottom, air in middle, water at top held up by bridges) produces no waste water at all and thus doesn't create any mud on which trees can start to grow.

[Schmaven]

I'm curious, though, what type of obsidian farm you're actually using - the common 3-layer bridge model (lava at bottom, air in middle, water at top held up by bridges) produces no waste water at all and thus doesn't create any mud on which trees can start to grow.

I like that 3-layer bridge model.  What I have been using is not as clean as that.  I have 2 rooms, 2-Z tall each, separated in the middle by 1-Tile wide drawbridges, where the magma enters on the bottom, and the water on the top.
||          B          ||  <- Water
||          B          ||  <- Magma
---------------------
I just let the lower right quadrant fill with magma, then close off the source when it gets at least 4/7 full.  Then open the lower bridge to allow that to disperse over the lower left quadrant with at least 2/7 depth everywhere since the rooms are the same size.  Then I open the water source and as it casts obsidian in the lower level, it fills the area above with water.  Then with at least 4/7 full, I open the upper bridge and as it disperses, it casts the other side too.

With this setup, I can forget I opened the magma source, come back a good while later, and at most, use 3.5/7 depth of magma times the area of my casting zone, rather than twice that amount without the bridge separator.  Due to a rather large demand for obsidian blocks in this fort, I have a total casting zone of 26 x 13, and even using minimal magma, the magma sea has been drained too low for the magma forges to operate.  It does refill, but not as fast as it can be turned into obsidian at the farm. 

The recent pause in production leading to tree growth was due to the miners being tasked with too much outdoor digging work to also keep up with the obsidian work. 

[Mohreb el Yasim]

Forges should be in a separate system to avoid this.