Rusty Hinge
wibbled on Friday 02 April 2010 17:16

Tim Watts wrote:
Hi,

Before I take a saw to 3 trees growing over a 6" shared sewer on my land,
are there any good tree data books anyone can recommend which indicate
how pervasive (spread) and deep roots of various species tend to go?

Poplars and willows (especially) will go looking for water. Willows will
invade drains and block them completely, and one in a dry situation may
send roots up to quarter of a mile.

Hi,

Thanks for this and sorry to be a while coming back.

Yes I heard about willows in particular.

eg I have one tree of a species I don't know which must come down because
its 4" trunk is about to crack the wall of a drain pit. Small tree so
easy enough...

Ideally, dig round the roots and pull the tree over, using its height as
a lever. You can then remove the rootball. Some trees will shoot from
the roots/base if you just cut them down.

In this case, I don't think that would be a good idea - it will be bye-bye
to my drain inspection/junction chamber guaranteed! I've taken the tree down
in pieces (to preserve the neighbour's shed) and I will now bow saw the
trunk off. I think all I can do is apply some tree-killer to the stump and
let it rot in situ.

I've tidied up the apple a bit so that can stay now.

But I also have an Ash and an apple tree of some sort right over the
drain pipe further down, which runs about 3-4 foot under the surface.

I wouldn't worry about the apple as the roots tend to be fairly shallow.
The ash is a different matter.

Ta. The ash is coming down after lunch. It's 4m high, 4" trunks after first
split so pretty straightforward.

So I need to
make an intelligent decision as to whether either is a risk.

If the drain is 3' - 4' deep, I'd say the apple is not a problem. The
ash is, or is likely to be when it gets bigger. (And they can get *VERY*
big.)

I'm also interested in the potential spread - having just had an almighty
(probably) leylandii (or some sort of fast growing evergreen) felled at
some expense - it was within 2m of the house dropping bits into the
gutters and I later found roots about 2" thick heading towards the rather
insubstantial foundations. Based on the root-spread = branch span rule of
thumb, I came out of it rather well as I would have expected worse.

Once your conifer is cut down the roots are no longer a problem. They
won't grow, and the stump won't shoot.

So I feel I need to start understanding trees a bit more! ;-


I believe the heir to the throne speaks to them - he might come and
-------- no carrier ---------

Probably. Rather have him running the country than the current eejits though
;-

On an aside, I found this a most useful tool for the job:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7113189/Trail/searchtextBOSCH.htm

Made one handed operation dangling off a ladder leaning on a wobbly trunk
doable (bow saw would be too mush pushing and wobbling). Given I was all of
2m off the ground, I have decided tree-surgery is not for me! Don't know how
those guys shimmy 6-7m up a massive leylandii on ropes then use a medium
sized chainsaw...

Cheers

Tim

--
Tim Watts

Managers, politicians and environmentalists: Nature's carbon buffer.