Do NOT plant a Sissoo tree whatever you do!!! (popular in Phoenix area) (designer, pools)

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Ficus trees are not just kept in check, they inevitably die in the outlying burbs where it gets colder at night.

Down here in the hood they only seem to get damage from frost instead of dying. Here's where our ficus hedge is at in recovering from last winter's frost.

[Chelito23]

Ficus next to a pool....in a neighborhood within the heat island...in a sheltered location...lol this doesn't end well!!! Those roots will do some major damage down the road....

[pbenjamin]

They were mature when we moved in 8 years ago. We are likely to tear them out the next time that the frost gets to them, just because we are tired of seeing them getting damaged by the frost.

[LBTRS]

Seems there are a lot of people considering Sissoo trees around here so I wanted to update you with the current issue with the tree. On top of all the other issues with the tree I've complained about in this thread, now I have literally millions of flowers falling out of the tree and covering my yard. It looks like it snowed in my backyard. Here are the flowers in my pool from less than two hours since the last time I netted them all out of the pool. Between the pods and the flowers I can't keep up with it as it keeps plugging up my skimmer basket. The little things are flowers the bigger ones you see in the photo are the seed pods. I don't know how anyone can say this tree is not messy as I've seen mentioned several times.

You've been warned, don't put a sissoo in whatever you do as it has been nothing but a nightmare for us.

[HX_Guy]

My neighbor behind us planted a Sissoo recently.

Their lot is higher than ours by about 4.5 feet and there is a retaining wall in place, I'm hoping the roots don't ever make it into our yard...the tree is literally like 5 feet away from the fence.

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

My neighbor behind us planted a Sissoo recently.

Their lot is higher than ours by about 4.5 feet and there is a retaining wall in place, I'm hoping the roots don't ever make it into our yard...the tree is literally like 5 feet away from the fence.

I hope theirs does better than ours and you don't pay the price. Mine is on the southwest corner of my yard and the breeze seems to come from west to east so most of my trees mess ends up in my pool which is east of the tree. Are you "downwind" of his tree?

Also, the roots are very invasive to swimming pools, is it anywhere near your pool? I'd keep a close eye on it as mine is raising the block wall and ruined the curbing around my lawn.

[HX_Guy]

I went out and took a quick measure...the tree is approx 20-25 ft diagonally southeast from the nearest corner of our pool but like I said, it's also 4.5 ft higher than the pool level and there is a retaining wall between them. The roots of the Sissoo would have to grow deeper than the 4.5ft retaining wall, under it and over to our pool. I'm thinking we should be ok.

Wind wise it's been blowing from south to north today all day. The tree is very young and doesn't have any flowers or pods.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

I went out and took a quick measure...the tree is approx 20-25 ft diagonally southeast from the nearest corner of our pool but like I said, it's also 4.5 ft higher than the pool level and there is a retaining wall between them. The roots of the Sissoo would have to grow deeper than the 4.5ft retaining wall, under it and over to our pool. I'm thinking we should be ok.

Wind wise it's been blowing from south to north today all day. The tree is very young and doesn't have any flowers or pods.

The roots I pulled that were close to my pool were all on the order of 6 inches deep - really just under the surface. There was nothing further down. Also, the roots were only in the part where I had other plants that I was irrigating. Once I got away from the irrigated patch the roots were gone. They seem to grow to where it is wet - makes sense, so if you have gravel there, I doubt they will spread. That also might explain why you see so many of them along sidewalks and not having any ill effects. The only part that gets water/stays wet is around the trunk in such a situation, so the roots are likely confined.

[LBTRS]

HX_Guy, yeah, the 4.5 foot drop should protect you from the main roots that like to travel on the surface. Hopefully you're ok with roots and the mess blows away from your pool.

Here is a photo of the flowers on the tree, sorry so blurry I was fighting the wind.



Here is a photo of all the flowers on the ground and the huge roots that are ruining my lawn. That is all flowers, not lawn as the roots have killed the lawn in that area.



All that brown in the photo are the seed pods waiting to drop into my pool.

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

The roots I pulled that were close to my pool were all on the order of 6 inches deep - really just under the surface. There was nothing further down. Also, the roots were only in the part where I had other plants that I was irrigating. Once I got away from the irrigated patch the roots were gone. They seem to grow to where it is wet - makes sense, so if you have gravel there, I doubt they will spread. That also might explain why you see so many of them along sidewalks and not having any ill effects. The only part that gets water/stays wet is around the trunk in such a situation, so the roots are likely confined.

I think the lawn near my tree is what is causing all the trouble. It has put out tons of huge roots right at the surface of the lawn (to suck up all the lawn water) and I can't even aerate the lawn anymore as my lawn is like concrete and the aerator won't puncture the ground/roots. The big roots have went under the concrete slab for my fire pit and the suckers are popping out on the other side in the dry gravel where there is nothing getting watered. I dug up one of the roots that was growing suckers and the root goes way under my patio towards my foundation. I couldn't dig enough to get the root out and there is no water under my patio (I hope).

Maybe, as you said, if they were isolated and not near another water source they would do better.