Video | Tree Roots Don't Break Pipes

There’s a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to tree roots. Did you know that tree roots don’t break pipes!?

Hi, I’m Archie! I’m an arborist, and I want to talk to you about these guys: roots! They’re just as important as the upper part of the tree, but because they are underground, they are often misunderstood.

The first misunderstanding is root shape. Often times we see the roots depicted growing the same way as the canopy does. But in reality, the tree is shaped more like a wine glass with the canopy up top and the roots spreading far and wide and only being a few feet deep. In fact, some of the small absorbing roots can extend two to three times the length of the canopy.

The next misconception is that tree roots break pipes. While yes, you can find tree roots in broken water pipes underground, what’s going on is a little bit different. So what people don’t realize is that tree roots don’t have a ton of penetrating power and will fill in the cracks and air gaps that are already present. The tree takes advantage of the situation and goes after the free water, and boom, it looks like the tree did it, but in reality, it was the tree just taking advantage of an already broken pipe.

Next, we have tree roots breaking the foundation of houses. Again this just simply isn’t true. What tree roots are looking for in the ground is water, air, and nutrients in the soil. And have no interest in your foundation. Like the pipes, if there was a crack to begin with, the tree roots can get in there and make the problem worse. But they did not cause the crack to begin with.

Over time trees get larger, and roots get thicker, which can disrupt a hardscape like this sidewalk. That leads us to another misconception which is we need to remove the whole tree. Instead, what we can do is fix the hardscape by grinding it down, or leveling it with epoxy, or simply just moving the hardscape over. It is usually cheaper and easier to fix the hardscape than it is to remove an entire tree.

So often, we misjudge trees as destructive or burdensome when that’s simply not true. When a problem arises, there are many, many solutions that don’t involve harming or removing a tree. We need to not be quick to condemn our roots as they are the foundation of a greener future.