NewUser,
What hasn't been discussed is that there are two fundamental types of septic systems. One is the traditional or anaerobic system which depends on having a rather large drain field where "good" bacteria in the soil actually take care of the bacteria in the effluent that is being dispersed in the subsurface of the drain field. There are many variation on filtering and dispersing the effluents into the field. This system depends on a good quality of soil and sufficient acreage to accomodate the volume required by the user. It has been most popular because of low cost of installation and maintenance. However, excess effluents or even flooding of the area can kill the natural bacteria in the soil and render it useless as a viable drain field. In addition, the soil conditions have to be maintained and that means no major activity over the drain field including planting trees, etc. Unfortunately, this is likely to be the type of system that will already be in place if you buy an existing house.
The second type of system is called the aerobic system. It utilizes chemicals, oxygen, and/or UV light to kill the bacteria in the effluents and then disperses that to a drain field for evaporation or uptake by plants and I would say that includes trees. As I understand it, aerobic systems have been used primarily for a replacements for traditional systems that have failed drain fields. There are several methods of dispersing the effluents, one of which is just like a sprinkler system that sprays it into the air, essentially watering things around it. Indeed, some these things can be trees and my brother's system at his house does exactly that.
The problem that you face here, as I see it, is that you might have to replace an existing system which can be costly. If you were just starting from scratch, you could employ whatever system you liked, provided the land adequately supported it. If I were you, I would contact some of the septic system installers that were familiar with all types and discuss what would be involved if you bought a property with the traditional septic system. Finally, you will have to conform to whatever the state and local requirements are, regardless; better check those.
PS: I hope that you're pretty young as far as those trees go.
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