This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
What could this be?
geminiuk1987
Posts: 3
Hi All,
We have had our Homebuyer's report back for a property that we are looking at buying and the report has picked up that 'leakage was evident from the base of the soil stack'.
We went back to the property to have a look and noticed something growing in behind which looks like it could be a buddleia?
I have attached pictures which hopefully show enough detail. My concern is what damage this could have caused / be causing to the house? Drains we can deal with but my concern is whether there is likely to be any structural damage to the house?
Any advice/help you can give would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
0
Posts
If those leaves belong to it, it could be a sambucus nigra (elderberry) which are notorious for growing in places like that. However, there is little evidence of elder causing damage to foundations. If the roots penetrate drainage pipes they can eventually block them but if there are no signs of drains being blocked then a regular dose of a brushwood killer such as SBK will kill it and the remaining stump will rot away after a few years - much quicker than (say) an ash tree sapling (which is another common tree which likes to seed itself into similar situations, but far more damaging.)
To be sure, crush a leaf between your thumb and fingers - if it smells highly pungent then it is almost certainly elder and not a great worry.
Hi there,
Thank you for this. Not sure what those small leaves are - they certainly seem to match elderberry leaves on a quick Google image search. Does it look like buddleia to you? The only reason I say this is because it got mentioned to me, I don't have much else to go on. That wood stump looks quite large?
If the leaves are something else then it could be buddleia which is another tree which likes to grow in such places. The smell test is diagnostic for elder though. Buddleia leaves are slightly furry when young and don't really smell. It's difficult to tell scale from the photo but if the stump is less than 2 inches in diameter, I wouldn't be worried about structural damage. The stump must be killed though.
Thank you. I'll measure it and see how big it is. The idea being that we would kill it and cut it out as best we can then concrete over it. Surely it couldn't grow then?
SBK brushwood killer or Deep Root tree stump killer will definitely see it off. Drill vertical holes into it and pour it in neat to be sure (cover with a bit of duct tape to keep wildlife and pets safe.) Don't cut it off and concrete over until you are certain it is dead though - new growth will easily break through an inch or two of concrete!
I've been treating an elder that had tried to dominate a weigela in my front garden for a couple of years now. It did look like this. I cut it back and painted it with SBK. It laid low and re-emerged the following spring. Did the same thing - wounded it and painted it with SBK and this year it's looking like it's not coming back but if it does, I'll do the same.
You need to prevent it getting life giving anything so if I were to tackle your problem, I'd cut it fresh at every opportunity (cross cuts with a saw?) and fill the fresh cuts with neat SBK.
Best of luck.
Oh, the leakage from the soil stack might be nothing to do with the plant - the plant is an opportunist. If you have leakage evident from the soil stack then you need a builder not a gardener (IMO).
Hope this is helpful.