[aristus]

I discovered French drains while trying to dig a hole for a fruit tree a while back. The land was on a hill and about 30cm down I hit this huge pile of dirty gravel. Ok, so maybe someone filled that spot with gravel. Sunk another hole a bit farther down. More gravel, etc. It took me longer than i'd like to admit to figure it out.

Turns out it was the main drainage for the whole neighborhood. Heh. Moved my tree to the side and it thrived on all that lovely water.

[cityofdelusion]

Tree should be far away from the drain line. The roots will eventually grow into the pipe. Tree roots are incredible at finding water sources. Even a drop-at-a-time drip from a water pipe will be completely root wrapped in a few years.

[mannyv]

Funny, that happened to a neighbor. There was this teeny crack in a pipe, and a tree root had squeezed into it then ballooned into this alien creature that blocked the drain in an attempt to suck out the water.

Life finds a way.

[aristus]

There was no pipe, as such. Just a wide deep long trench full of rocks.

[bell-cot]

> Turns out it was...

Might I ask how well- (or ill-) documented the location of that kinda-important drain was?

[aristus]

100 years on, everyone involved was dead. Happens a lot in old neighborhoods.

[pfdietz]

And, if people are fertilizing their lawns, all that lovely fertilizer runoff.

[aristus]

Oh, yes. No lawns in that neighborhood but I thought hard about what might be going into the fruits. Years on, no ill effects.

[pfdietz]

Fertilizer would be welcome, pesticides less so. Fortunately, one doesn't really need pesticides on lawns, particularly if one doesn't have a dislike of non-grass species (like clover, which helps with fertilizing anyway).

[JohnFen]

> Fertilizer would be welcome

That might depend on where you are. In my part of the US, fertilizer runoff is causing very serious problems. This is mostly from farms, of course, but domestic lawn care is a major source as well.

The push around here isn't to get people to stop using it entirely, but to follow proper practices that minimize the runoff.

[cmiller1]

Not uncommon for people to have their lawns treated for ticks here in the NE US

[pfdietz]

I live in a very high tick area in upstate NY, and I've never seen this. I certainly don't do it and have had no problems. Now, if I wander just off the lawn into the woods, I better be wearing my permethrin clothes.

[phsau]

Wouldn't it be better to keep the tree and its roots away from the drain? That growth might come at significant cost!