peppercorn tree concern

Aggi

I live in a complex of 8 units and have been refused by the other owners to remove a peppercorn tree from the front of my property.
I am concerned as the trunk is almost pushing against my concrete steps that lead to my front door and it's roots appear to have already lifted the concrete driveway.
The tree is about 10 meters high and it's trunk is about as wide as a basket ball.
How wide can the girth of a peppercorn tree grow and can it's roots cause structural damage if plannted within 2-3 meters from a brick house?

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glennak

Pepercorns grow very quickly. Size of a bastet ball probably means about 8 years old maybe less. You can expect the trunk to increase it's diameter by at least 2cm /year. It is not uncommon to find them 2 meter in diameter. They grow over concrete through cracks push walls. I once removed one in South Yarra about 1200mm diameter at breast height and when I ground the stump I found it was 3/4 sitting on a concrete slab. Some one had removed bricks in a wall to stop it from pushing it over. It had used this ledge for support and as it had grown it had pushed the rest of the wall out; so it was certain to fall in the near future. The council had it on a register as being significant, the developers wanted to build there. It was an easy report to write to get council approval.
Maybe you need to get a report from an Arborist to explain the situation to the body corporate. Most people know nothing about trees.

Aggi

Thanks glennak, sound like it can lead to a pretty serious problem. I'll get an Arborist report asap.

Apocalypsse

Yea Peppercorns can get nasty. We had a removal of one on Punt Rd, monster of a thing @ 130ish years old. There is an apartment block on the site which was being renovated, the roots had completely destroyed the plumbing resulting in $20k+ repair bills. This trunk at its widest was about 1.5 metres.

Eric Frei

Just thought I'd remind people of this thread. We need some common sense to shine.

Trees more protected than your house| council arrogance

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