Weed in Potty

16 years ago

Back in November of 2005, we had issues with our toilet not flushing. We thought it was because the toilet was just old (we had exhausted every other effort). We went out and bought a new toilet, and upon removing the old one, we found a plant whose roots ORIGINATED just under the wax ring. It was growing down into the toilet drain pipe - here is the picture from '05:

Over the past few months, the toilet would drain slowly. We plunged, we snaked, we blew out the clean-out drain with a blow bag - everything. We called a plumber, who used an auger to go down the drain and pulled out some large clumps of gunk... and also told us to replace our wax ring - that it might be old. The toilet flushed for about 24 hours, but when it began to slow again, we went and got the wax ring replacement. Upon removing the toilet to replace the wax ring, there it was AGAIN! This time - more than twice as long! Here is the newly grown potty weed from today:

The coloration in the picture is only different because this time, I used my cell phone to take the picture.

Can anyone tell me WHAT plant grows away from light and how to kill it permanently? Has anyone ever heard of this before? I have searched the Internet and keep coming up blank.

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Comments (5)

Embothrium
16 years ago
Apparently somehow getting enough light (it is green in the first picture) to live down there. The whole situation makes me wonder if you have something going on with the setup you have not identified and rectified yet.

You might see the same thing growing in a nearby waterway if you went and looked. For me implication is it came in from below the toilet, but maybe something was flushed once that contained seeds or fragments.
goldhillal
16 years ago
I see the first picture looks like it might be green but the second definitely looks like a root mass. Could the roots be in the drain line and grew up to the toilet. A similar problem we had was solved by a plumber telling us to purchase liquid fire at Lowe's and pour it in at the clean out plug.
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Embothrium
16 years ago
Yes: roots coming in through a an opening in a pipe would be much more usual - and would explain the ability to grow in the dark.

And the ability to come right back. If there are no leaves on it, and it looks like roots then...

Look for a nearby vigorously rooting tree such as a willow. You could curb or remove it but the "root" problem is the spot where the roots are getting in - this should be corrected anyway.
perch98
Original Author
16 years ago
We have a cottonwood tree about 25 yards from the house. Other than that, no trees are within 30 yards or so.

Again - the color of the two are the same - the coloration difference in the pictures is due to the poor quality of the camera phone used in the second picture... and the saturation of fecal matter on the plant in the second one. But - they were both true green in color.

If I had to describe it - it looks like a green horse's tail that has rooted in the wax ring area where the pipe comes out of the ground through the foundation of the house. Like between the pipe and the foundation... if there is a centimeter ring of dirt there - that is where it has rooted possibly. The roots go through the wax ring, and head down into the pipe under the commode.

We have a joke going around the house now... we are part of a government experiment on rapid-growing destructive weeds. LOL
carol23_gw
16 years ago
I looked for some help. You might try doing what this plumber shows on utube. Have you seen this?

He explains everything. There are parts I and II. Root killer, copper sulfate, is placed all around the wax ring as shown in part II.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ramonasplumber