Plants near waste pipes

Leif

aliasojo wrote: »

And you'd be right to be concerned imo. Roots can be very invasive and can get through the slightest crack in concrete.

Our drains are now collapsed, largely because of root damage.

It's a rented property so the owner is having to shell out big bucks to sort this out.

I'd only ever plant shallow rooting plants in the vicinity and even then I'd worry.

I've been doing some research, and discovered that the lovely plant near my front door is a Camellia. I am tempted to plant Camellias along the fence that runs near(ish) to the storm drain pipe. There are some other nice shade tolerant plants with smaller roots too.


I have dug up roses and Hydrangeas (I detest both) and the root ball is about 12" deep max, with some tap roots that go deeper, so such shrubs should be okay in that there is limited damage the roots will do IF they penetrate a pipe i.e. they might cause a leak, but it would not be a complete destruction/blockage. The problem with roses is that the roots can travel along the surface, and under paths, which is why the path around my house has cracked. I removed the roses so no more damage will occur. Cotoneaster is invasive too.