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Willow trees
Sizeyuk1
Posts: 125
Willow trees, we have 2 of them at the back of the house that do not belong to me as they are on land outside my garden and they are about 60ft tall, 10 years ago they were straight, now they are bending backwards, I think I once read that they have a 'pancake' rooting system. I am worried that they may come down in the high winds with serious damage to my house and garden,
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I do know that they are bad trees to have near a house, as they are very thirsty trees and take all the moisture available, which can cause subsidence problems.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
thirsty indeed and can cause damage to drains too. Seek professional advice is you're concerned.
The trouble is, cutting down such thirsty trees can sometimes cause " heave" . When they stop sucking up all the moisture, it builds up in the soil and can cause it to rise up having the opposite effect of subsidence.
We had a large willow in our garden which we had to take down as the roots were spreading into our raised veggie beds which have an irrigation system. OH was months digging out the roots which had spread a far as the tree was tall.
Willow roots go down deep and naturally droop, weep or bend. In fact the bend prevents them from wind damage. As per the above having them removed will probably cause more damage, so stop worrying and move on.
Willow trees can certainly be a problem regarding drains / subsidence etc, but if your house and these trees have coincided together for donkey's years I wouldn't be too concerned that it was suddenly going to start causing a problem.
Reading your post, however, it sounds as though you are more concerned that they are starting to lean and might eventually topple. I suppose that's possible but probably unlikely unless there is a combination of very wet ground and very high winds.
Boughs of willow trees will, however, break off and a friend had a very mature willow which was almost split in two by high winds. It was cut hard back and suffered no lasting damage - actually looked much better in the years after the haircut.
If you are concerned about these trees the most sensible thing to do would be to get a qualified, professional tree surgeon out to look at them. The good companies (in my area) make no charge for quotations & assessing situations such as this - and they should be able to either allay your fears or suggest what action needs to be taken.
Who owns the land the trees are on? Can you discuss the matter with them first? - you will need to get their consent to do any work or even to access the site for an assessment - unless, of course, you believe your house to be in imminent danger.