Tall fast growing trees for privacy but safe near houses - suggestions please?

Rovver125

As someone who works in the drainage industry I'd strongly advise anyone planting new trees to consider what's under the ground nearby. I see on a regular basis the problems tree roots cause in pipe lines. Major blockages and structural damage can lead to bills running into thousands of pounds, not to mention the risk of flooding and the obvious misery that can bring to people unfortunate enough to be affected. My local water board spends a huge amount of money dealing with root related problems and as a result, new housing developments are subject to stringent regulations where new planting is concerned.

A previous poster mentioned that they didn't think roots would reach any further then a metre down, but I can assure you certain types can and do over time, I've seen huge root balls in drainage pipes over two metres below ground! I love trees too and can't imagine our landscape without them, but spare a thought for what could happen in the future when you decide where to plant any new ones

cyclonebri1

I can 2nd that and add that it's not just trees that have deep searching roots. Earlier this year I replaced a retaining wall along my boundary. The land was 4ft 6" higher at the far side, now I had real problems with landslip while I had the original wall down, and at 1 point there was a box bush, no more than 3ft high by 3 ft dia, about 18" from my wall.
As in a lot of areas this bit caved in and I ended up with the bush and about 2 ton of earth sat on my drive.

The point is that even something this small had sent it's roots down to at least the 4 1/2ft level, ok fairly light roots, but they were down there:eek:

Leif

Rovver125 wrote: »

A previous poster mentioned that they didn't think roots would reach any further then a metre down, but I can assure you certain types can and do over time, I've seen huge root balls in drainage pipes over two metres below ground! I love trees too and can't imagine our landscape without them, but spare a thought for what could happen in the future when you decide where to plant any new ones

Your post is very informative.

I said : "A lot of pipes are quite deep, 1m or more down, and not many shrubs go that deep, most go about a foot down. I suspect that is true of many trees too. The holly bushes/trees I uprooted last week had quite large stumps and each was too heavy for me to lift. But they did not go down more than a foot. Perhaps some trees have tap roots. "

The comment on shrubs is based on experience of digging out roses, Cotoneaster, Buddleja and Hydrangea, the roots being near the surface. These shrubs were well established, perhaps 20 years or more. Do you have detailed information concerning which trees have shallow roots, and which go down deep?

I am fortunate that a large part of my garden is free of pipes, but I will avoid planting anywhere near the main sewer.

I assume it is possible to constrain the roots of a tree, as this is often down with fig trees to encourage fruit production. However, I do wonder if a tree would eventually get through the gaps between the bricks or slabs that line the containment area.

cyclonebri1

Absolutely, last year I had to move/repot what had grown into a very large and expensive purple variegated jap maple.
I had planted it in a large ali baba type salt glazed urn. 10 years of growth and frost destroyed the pot, it was only actually being held together by the plant roots.

Now, I hadn't moved it during those 10 years, and when it came to shifting it the roots had found there way out of the holes in the base and had travelled yards in each direction, contained? certainly not.

As an aside after a fair bit of root pruning and 2 helpers to move it, it survived in it's new location.:D

Leif, I too took out 2 large hollies last year, they were simply over shadowing us, and reducing my good neighbours light, they certainly had a substantial root structure as I found when the mini digger came in to do conservatory foundations yards away.;)

Leif

Just found these:

http://www.deeproot.com/blog/blog-entries/how-deep-do-tree-roots-grow

http://arborcaresolutions.com.au/treerootfacts.pdf

I once put an offer on a house, it was accepted, and a few days later I found an online reference to a Tree Protection Order. The 'small tree' in the back garden, that looked harmless in spring, was in fact an Oak and in summer the crown completely shrouded the house. I withdrew my offer. According to the links above, the roots of that tree would fill the entire garden, which was no more than 15m long, and easily reach the house. The council wonks told me it was unlikely the TPO could be removed.

Leif

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Leif, I too took out 2 large hollies last year, they were simply over shadowing us, and reducing my good neighbours light, they certainly had a substantial root structure as I found when the mini digger came in to do conservatory foundations yards away.

What width and depth would you say?

The ones I removed were bushes, that were 2m tall by 2m wide when I removed them, they had probably been there as long as 20 years. But as ever with plants, much depends on the cultivar. You can get fruit trees on a dwarfing root stock which never grow more than 2m tall, whereas a wild cherry is VERY tall, and no doubt the root system is large too.

Rovver125

Sorry Leif, think it was a bit past my bedtime when I posted that! I see you've found out a bit more about trees which root deeply. Unfortunately I'm not as clued up on trees as I would like to be so can't comment much more on that. Next time I deal with root ingress in a pipe line I will make more effort to understand what type of tree / shrub is causing it! Worth noting that root ingress in a pipe line doesn't always mean the guilty tree or shrub needs to be cut down, root masses can be cut out with high pressure water jetting equipment or robotic cutters and the point of ingress can be sealed with a resin patch or full length liner which effectively prevents the roots from re-entering the pipe. This is dependant on the pipe having not suffered too severe structural damage. Obviously this sort of work isn't cheap, but can often work out cheaper then complete excavation and means minimal disruption to gardens etc. So many different scenarios though that it's very difficult to generalise! I'm rambling now, my missus hates it when the drainage talk starts!!

cyclonebri1

Leif wrote: »

What width and depth would you say?

The ones I removed were bushes, that were 2m tall by 2m wide when I removed them, they had probably been there as long as 20 years. But as ever with plants, much depends on the cultivar. You can get fruit trees on a dwarfing root stock which never grow more than 2m tall, whereas a wild cherry is VERY tall, and no doubt the root system is large too.

These about 15 feet high and were quite compact in width having been pruned regularly, say 6 to 7 ft dia.

The sad thing was they were beautiful shrubs, 1 was a yellow berried variety and the blackbirds went nuts for it.
I have been at this present house for 17 years now, it had a small mature orchard and a number of large individual conifers even then, it has been a constant battle to keep these under control since then.
My big mistake in line with your comment about dwarf stock was that I took down both a victoria plum and a greengage.
I replaced both, the vp the 1st year and the gg 7 years later.
The vp was on semi dwarf stock and gets to about 10ft high, the gg must have been mis labelled as it's now doubled the height of the plum tree, ie, it's approaching 18ft high.
It is coming out next year along with a few more "dwarf" conifers that I planted, :D

You mentioned 20 years, most of the stuff in my garden, from talking to neighbours and ring counting seemed to have been planted over 30, some 40 years.

Leif

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

These about 15 feet high and were quite compact in width having been pruned regularly, say 6 to 7 ft dia.

Probably not so different from the ones I cut down, although that had been pruned to 6 or 7 feet high. The largest trunk was 6 to 8 inches across.

It is not unknown for labels to be wrong. My blue hyssop grew white flowers.

faerie~spangles

Tinks32 wrote: »

What word?
I have a huge garden where i can get away with planting nearly what I want, and my neighbour is extremely glad i have done it, she now does not have to look and my husband and I sunbathing in our birthday suits:)
You remind me of someone on another forum!

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