IF you are willing to shell out the hefty expense that could be needed to repair the septic system and IF you are willing to treat religiously with the copper sulphate, then go ahead and leave the trees in place. But I think you are just asking for trouble. Root barriers are a possible short term solution - they will only delay the inevitable and can just as easily negatively impact the health of the trees if needed to be installed too close to the trunk or current root ball. There are very good reasons why it is advised to plant trees well away from septic systems - it just creates very costly problems that can impact not ony your plumbing, but a well if you have one and groundwater. Tree roots spread out a great distance, some much further than others -- a good rule of thumb is 2-3 times the mature spread of the tree. And several of those you have planted are considered no-no's within a 100' of a septic system. But it's your choice.......:-) Does this Copper Fungicide CuSO4 stuff come with a full repair your septic tank for xxx year guarantee or do it's seller's have no faith in the product? New cars come with warranties. That's one of the sillier questions/statements I've seen in awhile! Copper sulphate is a chemical with a host of different usages - it was not invented or intended specifically to "cure" root problems with septic systems but has found to be moderately effective in doing so. But when you are dealing with living organisms (trees) there are NO guarantees about anything -- these are not new cars. The only 'guarantee' you can expect to realize when it comes to dealing with tree roots potentially damaging a septic system is to NOT plant them anywhere close.

Thanks Ken... I haven't called anyone yet. I thought I would post here because I figured to them a tree is a tree. A lot of the facts I'm finding on the internet is saying it's safe to plant a tree as far from the septic as the mature height. (20 foot high mature tree, ok to plant 20 feet from septic). Now conifers never "mature". Others say the roots will go out double the width. Are they saying that if I plant a slim conifer that gets 2' wide and 20' tall, the roots will only be a 4' circle? I find that pretty impossible. Very good question about the understock, that's one of the reasons I posted on here first. I don't know what these trees are made up of and if the roots grow as slow as the dwarf conifers. On another note, I don't plan to purchase any trees right now. Currently I'm getting the bed layed out with rope & roundup. Then I plan to order some large bolders and a few other items. I'm getting the bed ready this year, next year all I'll have to do is plant. I'll remeasure and see if I can move that bed up any from the septic just to be safe. The more the better, but I don't want it to close to the house.

Booker T, How old do you think your system might be? I ask because it might be possible that the plans for your system are still on file with whatever agency might have issued the permit for installation. This would help you understand what to look for. It's worth a shot, anyhow. Although I agree that changes in vegetation appearance over parts of a septic may indicate a problem; it may also be benign if it is only the result of localized increases in soil moisture alone and only appear directly over the pipelines in the leach field on the far side of the tank. After all, the leach field lines are intended to disharge fluid into the soil. If your surrounding earth is particularly well-drained, or droughty, and you are having a dry season, then the greeness may be attributable solely to that and nothing to do with a problem. The greeness may simply be visible because the area directly over the pipes is actually being better irrigated. Have you lived with the system for more than a year so you can tell whether this is unusual? The other reason(s) for increased greenness over any part of the system has to do with seepage of nitrogen (and possibly low levels of phosporous) from poorly, incompletely or leaking waste water. (You know cow manure adds nitrogen to the soil, and so does night soil, i.e. human waste.) This is the sort of thing that should be looked into. Do you have a mound system in which the leach field is installed in large raised berm or is the whole thing generally on the same level as the surrounding soil? Mound systems are often more finicky, but have the advantage of being modern, and generally are designed with built-in expansion space in case of failure. (OTOH, no one installs a mound system unless the soil is already pretty unsuitable for septics.) Around here (northern NY) we pay a few hundred dollars ($300-500) to have the septic (or what passes for that at my farm) pumped. We do that on intervals a short as 1 year to as long as 3 or 4 years. We can tell when it needs to be done because our drains gurgle. Our system is very primitive and old, so that would not apply to a more modern system. Need for pumping depends on use, size of tank, design of system and surrounding soil conditions, and also amount of precipitation or any localized flooding that happens to occur. HTH, Molly

Also, what are the requirements in the owner's area for replacing leach fields? If he was in Vermont it would have to be an engineered system. By messing with the leach field there is a possibility that a mound system could be required (about $10,000). I know, Vermont is nuts on this stuff. My theory on the leach field is that if it was a "designed" system and it's working okay, leave it alone. If you have heard that new state or county requirements are coming in the next few years, then it might be prudent to consider replacing it now to avoid some expensive fix a few years down the road. And, as someone said, if you are in a region where there is the possibility of having to hook on to a municipal sytem in a few years, then you might want to consider the cheapest fix you can get for now. The last one I had installed/designed called for an outgoing filter. The builder said he would never do another system without it. Pull it once a year or so and hose it off. On the pumping...when I owned mobile home parks I had about 20,000 gallons worth of tanks to keep pumped. In this area it's extremely expensive to have them pumped. I found that it was senseless to pump all of the liquids out of the tanks. Liquid was always on the bottom and would go out to the leach field anyway. We would just pump the first 2 or 3 feet making sure that all the scum and solids and semi-solids were cleared out. Think about it..if you pump the whole tank, within 3 or 4 days the tank is filled with liquids again.