dad .. who has 50 year old maples on top of old ceramic fitted pipes.. tried the copper stuff for a decade.. it does NOT WORK ... right up there with tree spikes ... etc ... he ended up .. buying his own augering machine.. i dont know what it is called.. and roto's his own drain twice a year ... maintenance is easy ... he did have to pay to have it done the first time..as it was so clogged ... he could not do it himself ... most likely part of the basis of my hatred of maples .... OP doesnt mention the native soil type.. which makes a HUGE!!! difference on where a tree puts its roots ... if its 6 inches of topsoil and then bedrock [which i doubt] ... then 50 feet is probably not far enough ... if OP is on top of a mountain of sand and pebbles... its probably an irrelevant hypothesis ... its going to drain if you limit your drain field with the inclusion of roots... you will pay the piper... if you soil is so porous.. no tree is going to interfere .... in a significant manner ... best answer ... call the guy who installed it.. or any local purveyor of such ... they know the soil.. they know the area.. and they know what trees have caused local problems .... and in how many years .... though we are very nice people.. really now.. what the heck do we know about your local drainage issues .... and that is at the root of the issue.. rather than it being a tree issue [yes.. i intended the pun.. lol] good luck ken

I was so impressed by all the work going into this cause, and very proud of you Geezerfolks! They were all beautiful and how wonderful that they've found homes with people who will really appreciate them and benefit from their generosity.

So sad, a giant in creating disease-resistant roses, truly a leader in this area. Jane

Can't sleep RN and trying to kill time so GW gets a post from me. I love my 'Ogon' and am glad I put it in a place that anticipated its ridiculously fast growth rate. (update - it is at least 50' now, see below) However the ascendant structure of the branches worries me a bit. I think they will be a slightly more susceptible to snow or ice loads than the horizontal branches of bald cypresses, i.e., all native Taxodium. (and even the Chinese Taxodium hybrids, of which I have 2) This will probably never matter "IRL", but it's something I can't help but wonder about. It parallels my worries about my Cupressus duclouxiana 'Eric's Form' which is possibly C. chengiana. It too has steeply ascending branches - but it's far more of a concern because of course it's evergreen. Because of the Himalayas and the Siberian high pressure system, China was NEVER a climate with heavy winter snow so there was no reason for adaptations to protect against it. And sure enough in an ice/snow storm back in 2014, my Chinese Cypress caught huge amounts of snow and ice in the "V" formed by those branches, and thus had its trunk completely twisted and bent, so that the top 3/4 was in a fully horizontal position! Not good! Amazingly, it didn't snap and I was able to right it using one of these and some poly rope. Took only 18 months before it didn't need the rope anymore and could stay upright on its own again. But I worry for its long term success here. (not due to cold, at least - no damage whatsoever in the polar vortex winters) So I would say, all deciduous conifers are probably generally rather storm resistant and I'd be happy planting them near a house, even on the US east coast. But I wouldn't put Metasequoia at the top of the list. (I might put it at the top of the fastest growing conifer list!)