Liquidambar Roots

Don's favourite native plant is the scribbly gum (Eucalyptus haemastoma). These trees have beautiful smooth, white and grey mottled bark with distinctive "scribbles". The marks often look like some mysterious form of writing, but they're actually the tunnels of moth larvae. Trees like scribbly gums can live for centuries, and planting one in the garden can be a wonderful investment in the future. However if you put the wrong tree in, or even the right tree in the wrong spot, it's just like making a bad investment that you'll regret for years!

Liquidambar problem

Recently Burke's Backyard received a letter from Rhonda Doyle of Bundoora. Rhonda's story is a timely reminder of what happens when trees are planted in the wrong place. In her case a liquidambar (Liquidambar styraciflua) was planted near storm water pipes. Although liquidambars are beautiful trees they do have strong, aggressive root systems, and the Doyles' terracotta pipes became completely clogged with roots. They removed a total of around 30 metres (100') of root from the pipes.

As the ground settles over time terracotta pipes can develop small cracks and moisture begins to seep out. Tree roots find the moisture and eventually enter the pipes. If you have modern plastic pipes tree roots are less of a problem.  

What to do if you are having trouble with tree roots

• bite the bullet and replace your old terracotta pipes with plastic ones
• remember that the drain clearing devices plumbers use only temporarily remove roots from pipes; they will grow back
• don't plant trees near pipes
• remember that some trees like liquidambars, figs and weeping willows have root systems that enter sewer lines and pipes continue to invest in the future by planting good trees

Copyright 1999 CTC Productions