Trees and leach field

[NDIHC]

Dang! My leach field has been in the shelterbelt behind my house since the later 70s! About 20 years ago it wouldn't drain. So I dug it up. Mind you this was just a pvc pipe burried in the tree rows. I found the end and found that someone had flushed some materials that shouldn't have been flushed and it floated out and blocked the end of the pipe. There were no tree roots in the pipe even though it was between the rows of trees that were planted about 10 feet apart and 10 feet between trees. We had an excavator friend of ours dug a new trench and added the chambers after turning the drain pipe to the side. So 1 mishap in 45years that had nothing to do with tree roots even though the drain field in in the shelter belt. I'm not worried about it.
Oh, by the way this shelter belt was planted ny my grandparents in the 1940s so mature established trees.

 

[marloweg]

Anybody have an opinion on how close a trees should be planted to a Leach field do they destroy the leach fields with their roots?

go out about 4 miles out

 

[MarkB_MI]

I've heard that a tree's roots will extend as far out as its branches. That said, I just had the sewer line cleaned at a rental house, and they found some roots even though the nearest trees are at least 75 feet away.

I addition to keeping roots out of the leach field, eliminating trees will help evaporation, making the field quite a bit drier than it would otherwise be.

 

[DRussell]

I've heard that a tree's roots will extend as far out as its branches. That said, I just had the sewer line cleaned at a rental house, and they found some roots even though the nearest trees are at least 75 feet away.

I addition to keeping roots out of the leach field, eliminating trees will help evaporation, making the field quite a bit drier than it would otherwise be.

This is very true. Trees and leach fields do not mix.