Friday 19 October 2012

Beware of Pepper Trees

It started with a damp patch and then the unmistakable hiss of water escaping where it shouldn't.  Nothing much to do about it on a Friday night except turn off the main stopcock and hope for the best. Şaban, our trusted Bodrum plumber, was with us by 9am the next morning despite the 40 km journey from his workshop.  A leak in the mains pipe was diagnosed and as this runs the length of our garden, Şaban, sidekick and hubby got down to some serious pruning to get at the pipe. By mid-afternoon the problem was solved, new pipes had been fitted and goodbyes were about to be said, when I remembered that our bath wasn't draining very well.  Four hours later, our courtyard looked like this!



The last time our pipes got blocked socks! were found in the pipe. (Yes, washing machines really do eat socks). This blockage was refusing to budge and as it got dark, work had to be postponed until Monday.
After much more digging and drilling, the cause of our problems emerged.



This is a root of a pepper tree. It had grown on top of our plastic waste pipe and slowly squashed it until nothing much was getting through. I knew that eucalyptus trees shouldn't be built near houses and now I know that neither should pepper trees.  I dread to think what they are doing to out foundations.  We've found a good plumber, now on the look out for a man with a chain saw.



Well recommended

18 comments:

  1. Good grief! Who would have believed a pepper tree could do so much damage. Can't believe the size of that root!

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  2. My husband recently massacred our lovely old pepper tree because the roots were heading for the pool! Now we know where the socks go too!

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    1. Sensible move. I didn't believe socks escaped from machines, but we certainly haven't been flushing them down the loo so can't see where else they can come from. I also have endless odd socks.

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  3. Trees close to a house can be a nightmare, BtoB. Thank goodness you found out before even more damage was done. That water leak was a blessing in disguise....

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    1. We are going o have to assess all our trees. When we built the house we made a huge effort to do so without cutting any down. This now looks short-sighted.

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  4. Grief...the size of that root!
    How lucky you are to have a reliable plumber.

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  5. Blimey, it looks like a sea monster!

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  6. Oh, Baby! Just when you put your finger in one part of the dike, another part springs a leak. But thank heavens you're stopping that pepper tree in its tracks. Those trees should only be sold with a stern warning accompanied with a picture of your yard. Gee, I wonder if Şaban would come to Istanbul . . .

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    1. I'm sure you have dealt with much worse in your apartment block saga.

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  7. . . after 15 years and countless trees nurtured we've avoided any root problems - apart from those that have lifted the yard. Just relayed the slabs and a set of roller-blades is on order :-D

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    1. Don't want to rain on your parade, but it took 20 years for this root problem to present. The plumber said that if we'd left it another 2 years we would have had roots coming up the bath drain hole.

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  8. Oh my gosh, WOW!!!! That was some root....sorry for your troubles..... but glad you have a good plumber. Thank goodness we don't have any of those Pepper Trees here.
    That root looks like it should belong in 'Ripley's Believe it or Not'. :-)

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    1. That's the half we dug up. The other half is still attached to the tree.

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  9. Good blog post. I certainly appreсіаte this sitе.
    Keep it up!

    Here is my wеbρage ... ephedrine sulfate

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  10. Good warning to all... who knew that a pepper tree could be so troublesome. But the way, I just started an Expat Carnival on my blog, and this month's theme was around flora and fauna... and I've added this article to the Carnival.... http://www.rovingjay.com/expat-carnival-1/

    thanks, Jay

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