Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: Planting trees near house 3Jun 13, 2012 11:49 am Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Planting trees near house 9Jun 14, 2012 8:10 pm Thanks to all those who replied. We ended up going to a different local nursery and asked similar questions and got what we beleive to be a reasonable answer. Apparently the max tree size on those cards also corresponds to optimal conditions, which isnt in found in my particlar location in South Australia. We will end up putting it 5 - 5.5m away from the house and acting on the rule that "the roots are as wide as the branches" will just give it the chop in 15+ years if it ever threatens to encroach on the house. Why are priates scary ? Because they yaargh.. Re: Planting trees near house 10Aug 18, 2012 9:27 pm Using root barriers is not an advisable horticultural practice. From their use we now know it increases the risk of damage from a tree with a very poor root structure. Trees that grow to a height of 5m at the most are not considered to be of a danger to a home when planted as close as 2m. Tree roots will only follow soft soils. Compacted soils under a slab are not ideal for them as the compacted soils do not have enough oxygen for the roots to function. Where there are trenches etc, they may follow along the softer soils. The thing with trees in landscapes is that best be used more centrally to form cooler micro climates that reduce utility costs. Using them on fence lines and close to homes is a bit like buying 50 Shades of Gray just to read the first page. It can be a terrible waste. Trees that exceed 10m are not generally recommended for urban blocks. Needless to say there are many garden centres and landscapers recommending inappropriate trees and planting methods. Re: Planting trees near house 11Aug 18, 2012 9:32 pm i'd also take the point the tree roots are not as wide as the tree. this is a very common urban myth and even one believed by many in the horticultural industry. Pruning a tree should never be done by anyone other than an arbourist. It is an art and a science. Pruning a tree will not control a root system spread. tree roots will extend far beyond the canopy. A highly respected arborist and colleague of mine describes how if you stand in a square kilometre of forest, there maybe 20 species of trees present. Under you feet will be the roots of 80% of them. We need to be far more forgiving toward trees because without them in our landscapes, we are making our cities unhealthy and under valued. Re: Planting trees near house 12Aug 18, 2012 9:45 pm When planting, its also imperative that the soil be prepared wide and shallow. The old adage of digging a hole twice as deep and wide is now considered poor practice. As is digging enormously deep holes full of rich composts and manures. These methods can retard healthy root growth, waste a great deal of money and produce a tree prone to problems or become a risk to property in years to come. Re: Planting trees near house 13Aug 19, 2012 2:17 pm It is also a myth that a tree's roots must extend under the house to extract moisture. Trees also draw moisture by a process known as matric suction. Dryer soil under trees has high matric suction and it draws moisture from wetter surrounding soil with low matric suction. There have been several legal decisions in recent years where evidence from geotechnical engineers has been presented and accepted that high matric suction caused be trees have impacted on neighbouring houses sub surface soil moisture levels, causing foundation subsidence and structural damage. People seeking further information should Google - Trees "matric suction". 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using siphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost, siphonic, eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Planting trees near house 14Aug 19, 2012 7:12 pm ![]() Trees that exceed 10m are not generally recommended for urban blocks. Needless to say there are many garden centres and landscapers recommending inappropriate trees and planting methods. Sadly, too true. There are also many many "landscapers" around who have no idea about plants, yet they design gardens and plant trees and shrubs inappropriately: climate, soil, and position are all completely disregarded. Re: Planting trees near house 15Aug 19, 2012 11:07 pm It is often suggested within the horticultural industry that landscpae architects are some of the worst offenders. They may spend years learning architecture and spend 3 months learning about plants. The number of glossy magazines full of high end landscapes just full of inappropriate planting. They all look good at the handover and I cringe at the prospects of the damage a poorly chosen and planted tree will do to those designs in 10 years. Great info on matric suction too. Although it tends to be associated with larger trees and, again, an inappropriately planted tree. Not such a problem with smaller trees and larger shrubs. Re: Planting trees near house 16Aug 20, 2012 2:27 am Other serial offenders are councils. My next door neighbour has a huge gum planted on the nature strip and it dropped a massive branch to the road about 6-8 years and yet it is still there getting bigger and waiting to drop another branch. My nature strip has a Grevillea Robusta that is about 15 metres high but it does seem to be struggling to continue its growth. The council is aware of it because the footpath is constantly being 'levelled' as it constantly raises and alters the levels. It is starting to look like a BMX track. The funny thing is that the neighbours footpath has not altered even slightly. One of the great mysteries of the world! The news link at the bottom refers to inappropiate council planted nature strip trees that were causing foundation subsidence and structural damage to houses. The council decided to avoid legal proceedings on the basis of recent legal judgements including one against the City of Unley in S.A. The article however does not mention this and the council's stated position was one of face saving after long refusing to accept liability! http://knox-leader.whereilive.com.au/ne ... ked-homes/ http://www.courts.sa.gov.au/courts/envi ... unley.html 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using siphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost, siphonic, eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Planting trees near house 17Aug 20, 2012 7:55 am Trees should not be feared nor should trees be excluded from any urban environment. The financial benefits in including trees are just huge. Cooler suburbs. More valuable property. roads that require less maintenance. When roads are shaded they last a lot longer. Savings to council budgets alone from that are huge. Something else that bewilders me about how people view trees in new urban areas is check out every wealthy suburb. The ones where all the corporate CEO's live in your city. The key feature is leafy trees. Often the people responsible for deforestation live in the leafiest suburbs. Mean while the peasants all live in a treeless sterile urban development that have huge utility costs because the microclimates are screwed. Re: Planting trees near house 18Aug 20, 2012 10:19 am ![]() i'd also take the point the tree roots are not as wide as the tree. A highly respected arborist and colleague of mine describes how if you stand in a square kilometre of forest, there maybe 20 species of trees present. Under you feet will be the roots of 80% of them. It seems there's a contradiction here. Re: Planting trees near house 19Aug 20, 2012 11:00 am Nah Fu could have just phrased the first bit a little better. What he is saying is the tree's root system is not as wide as the canopy (dripline) as is commonly believed. The roots actually extend significantly further. The majority of the "feeder" roots are no where near the edge of the tree canopy so in a forest there are root systems of many different trees growing a great distance from the actual tree species. ![]() ![]() i'd also take the point the tree roots are not as wide as the tree. A highly respected arborist and colleague of mine describes how if you stand in a square kilometre of forest, there maybe 20 species of trees present. Under you feet will be the roots of 80% of them. It seems there's a contradiction here. Re: Planting trees near house 20Aug 20, 2012 11:58 am Question ...maybe on or off topic here....but hey its all become very entish I thought I'd just ask a boring question. We have an ornamental pear on the north west corner of our VERY small front yard. Its about 14 years old and at a guess stands 6meters with a nice big canopy. We love the tree because it does exactly what Fu talks about, shades us from the brutal afternoon summer sun but allows the north winter light in. Its about to flower and that just looks amazing for a few short weeks in spring. I am however trying to get a stormwater pipe past it, around 2 to 3 meters from the base of the tree. I have uncovered a large root about 100mm in diamater merily heading under the house. This part of the house was restumpted this time last year and the guys didnt mention any problems with tree roots then. I'm guessing I shouldnt cut the root, but how much more would it grow for a tree of this type??????? Our standard double-glazed window is tested to achieve, Rw 34, and can be glazed to suit Rw 39. The price is good too... 3 22360 ![]() 0 0 You can fill them and repaint but I'd almost guarantee that with normal seasonal expansion/contraction they'll open up again. Best solution I've found to this problem is… 3 7782 ![]() |