I have 2 pine & 1 oak trees all about 60' tall, will cutting the roots 4'-6' from the trunk kill the trees?

Question

HI,
MY NEIGHBORS WANT TO RUN A WATER LINE ACROSS MY FRONT YARD PROPERTY. THE PROBLEM WITH THIS IS, I HAVE 2 SOUTHERN PINE TREES AND 1 OAK TREE ALL ABOUT 60' TALL. THESE TREES ARE LINED IN A ROW SIDE BY SIDE. THEY WILL BE CUTTING THE ROOTS ABOUT 4'- 6' FROM THE TREE TRUNK. ALSO THE TREES ARE ABOUT 10' TO 15' FROM OUR HOME.
MY QUESTION IS, WILL THE CUTTING OF THESE ROOTS KILL THE TREES? I WOULD LIKE TO HELP BUT SHOULD I TAKE THE RISK?
PLEASE HELP!
COOKIE G.

Answer 1

Trees this size should not be this close to your house. The water line would get wrecked by tree roots of this calibre over time anyway, especially those of the pine, which is usually faster growing than oak. You must weigh your options: cut the trees' roots which will hurt or possibly kill the trees, or at least not do them any good, and have possibly dying large trees in front of your house, with the risk of pipe damage from other roots while the trees are alive, or, take them out altogether, stump-grind the stumps, and plant smaller landscaping farther and safer from the house, or re-locate the pipes, and keep the trees. I'd opt for the latter, but watch that those roots don't alter the infrastructure of your house (i.e., existing pipes, gas lines, anything else underground, overhead wires, basement/foundation walls, sidewalks, or be a safety hazard in a storm.) Good luck, Cookie.

Answer 2

I'd say it will kill the trees, but, if for some reason it doesn't kill them initially.........it has a very good chance of killing the tree and anything around it during the next big rain/wind storm. By cutting the roots you are cutting the foundation of the tree and causing the tree to become top heavy with little or no footing. Seeing as your home is only 10-15' from the trees and the trees are about 60', there's a good possibility you could end up with some major damage to your home.

Don't do it!

Answer 3

In my opinion it would not kill the trees but would weaken them and make them vulnerable but they do have equipment that can pass the pipe under roots to prevent damage to the trees and in turn the roots would never interfere with the pipe. However it does cost more money to do that than it would to just trench right through the roots and cut them. Hope this helps. I am assuming your neighbor would be paying for this so make the suggestion.

Answer 4

when you dig up the root before you cut it look at the root there will be smaller roots coming off of it cut the main root back to the smaller one and the tree willl be fine and the tap root is on the bottome fo the root system what you will have to watch out for is the root you will be cutting is atched to a limb in the tree so in a few mounths theres a chance the limb will have die back we prune roots all the time make sure you put some compoast in with the soil when you back fill the root

Answer 5

I think it will but even if it does not those root will grow and break the line. i would get far away from that tree. either way you are looking a lot of money to take a dead tree down or dig up busted pipe.

Answer 6

If it doesn't kill the trees, it certainly would harm them. And, the roots will continue to grow and cause trouble for the line anyway.

Any options of putting the water line somewhere else?

Answer 7

would cutting your intestines a quarter of their length bother you>