Conifer roots

sophiedophie · 16 May 2017 at 10:28PM

Hi all,

Recently bought my first home and having my own garden is so exciting! We have made some changes to the garden already including putting one conifer in a corner. However, I am now wondering about how big it will get/if the roots will damage the house structure eventually.

If I keep it trimmed to the height of the fence, will the roots still grow out?

Would rather take it out now if it is going to cause me problems further down the road!

Thanks

I_have_spoken · 16 May 2017 at 10:58PM

Depends on what conifer you've bought. A Leylandii will shoot up, other's are very slow growing.

Conifer roots are shallow, any damage is more likely to come from drying of the ground and causing subsidence rather than from the roots per se.

glasgowdan · 16 May 2017 at 11:32PM

The roots won't bother the house.

badmemory · 17 May 2017 at 2:43AM

Don't believe what they say about the height to which conifers grow. I had one which only grew to 5 feet. Well that is what was said. Top taken off several times, still well over 10 feet when I got the tree people in. I certainly wouldn't trust my conifer not to grow roots in bad places.

Davesnave · 17 May 2017 at 4:37AM

Planning is part of succesful gardening. Some people see attractive plants, buy them. and then dot them around the place without an overall plan of what they're hoping to achieve, or considering what the plant might look like in 5 years time.

A conifer in a corner beside the house might become a nuisance for several reasons, but it would have to get quite large before it began to affect the footings of a modern building. That said, the time it takes before it becomes too large depends on what it is.

A corner like that is typically sheltered and drier than the open garden, so putting a tree there will make it drier still and limit what else can be grown there. Conifers also don't have hardiness problems, so this one is currently occupying a space that might suit something you might want to grow that does.

Just like altering the house itself, where there are work and cost savings from planning ahead, the garden too needs to be considered as a whole. You will still make mistakes, just like we all do, but they won't be as frequent or as time consuming to sort out.

springdreams · 17 May 2017 at 7:38PM

My insurance company said that the subsidence which has just cost over £20,000 to put right was caused by 2 conifers (one under 5 foot tall and the other around 8 foot). One conifer was in the corner between my property and my neighbour's & was in my neighbour's garden, and the other was a few feet in front of my front door in my own garden .... We live in a clay soil area. Both trees have now been removed.

glasgowdan · 17 May 2017 at 8:08PM

springdreams wrote: »

My insurance company said that the subsidence which has just cost over £20,000 to put right was caused by 2 conifers (one under 5 foot tall and the other around 8 foot). One conifer was in the corner between my property and my neighbour's & was in my neighbour's garden, and the other was a few feet in front of my front door in my own garden .... We live in a clay soil area. Both trees have now been removed.

Brilliant! They need to pin it on something for some reason I suppose.

andrewf75 · 18 May 2017 at 10:58AM

roots not so much a problem as blocking light and drying out the soil. I would think carefully about planting conifers, deciduous trees are generally much nicer

moneyistooshorttomention · 19 May 2017 at 9:25PM

glasgowdan wrote: »

Brilliant! They need to pin it on something for some reason I suppose.

Well I'm hoping that those conifers were what they chose to "pin it on" - rather than being the actual cause iyswim - as I'm in a very similar situation.

Reason being my awful next door neighbour has got a couple of conifers (yep...leylandii) planted in her garden and only a very short distance from my garden wall that is in between us.

I keep wondering whether I should send her an official letter requesting removal or no - specifically to have a copy to keep for her insurance company if I have to claim against her for damage to my property ever (to prove that she does officially know about the hazard). Also, of course, in the hope that she might see sense (but I rather doubt she has any sense - as she has planted them very close to her own house:cool:).

Another reason for me being very glad she is distinctly elderly - as I would imagine any prospective next owner of her house would be a good bit more sensible and get rid of them quick:cool:.

It is a dilemma as to what to do for the best...

Davesnave · 20 May 2017 at 7:35AM

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Reason being my awful next door neighbour has got a couple of conifers (yep...leylandii) planted in her garden and only a very short distance from my garden wall that is in between us.

I keep wondering whether I should send her an official letter requesting removal or no - specifically to have a copy to keep for her insurance company if I have to claim against her for damage to my property ...

You can't request your neighour removes the tree, so it's pointless doing it.

You can't even show there is any danger of damage by the tree without a report from someone qualified, saying it's causing, or likely to cause damage. Just because you think it might, doesn't mean it will. A report will cost you money, money.

If the wall did fall down, it would be for the insurers to decide how to proceed, so again, you'd have little say in the matter.

Sometimes, insurers have their own way of looking at things, which is why I was once overtaken by the car that I assumed had been scrapped, after someone wrote it off for me! :rotfl:

karcher · 20 May 2017 at 7:47AM

Davesnave wrote: »

Sometimes, insurers have their own way of looking at things, which is why I was once overtaken by the car that I assumed had been scrapped, after someone wrote it off for me! :rotfl:

I had to read that 4 times before I understood what you were saying

:doh:

Conifer roots

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