I would consult an attorney to find out if he has standing. Tough call - especially if he's a good neighbor. The roots of Ficus b. are tough enough to break up roads & building foundations, so I would venture that a concrete swimming pool wall would be little different.

Al

So do you recommend that I take it out?

Unless the pool had a leak, how would the tree know that the pool was there?

Can I stop it by cutting the roots?

Thanks,
--Rick

Rick,

Have an Arborist come over and ask their opinion regarding the ficus. Cut the roots? Cut the trees? Trim? Have your neighbor there too so he can hear first hand what is said. That way you let your neighbor know you understand his concerns and are willing to resolve the problem. It will help keep the animosity down. It's up to you if you want to take their suggestion or not.

If this doesn't resolve the issue then I'd go see an attorney to find out the legalities of the situation.

Sue

The best idea yet!

I agree with Sue.
Though, maybe do both. As far as the pool, Our ficus, in the front yard, has roots growing through small cracks in our pools wall. It also has seeked out my ponds on the oposite side of the house and has the roots growing up the sides and dipping into the surface of the water.....

Ciao, this sure seems like a terribly invasive tree to have especially in a populated area. It seems to just take over. If I was your neighbor, I would probably want it down too. Maybe you should keep these type of trees for when you are in a less populated area where it wouldn't effect others homes. Did you research its habits before you planted it? Also, it may start to reach havick on your own home. People do keep Benjamina as houseplants in pots, or in pots on their porches ect. I don't know Benjamina's native habitat, but obviously it likes to search deep for water. I hope you come to a peaceful resolution. Good Luck. Ciao

See the thing is that they sell them as hedge plants, and they do end up outside. The nurseries advertise them as quick growing landscape plants. I saw a mature one down the street and that's why I thought they would be nice in my yard. It's a beautiful tree, and I hate to kill it, but it looks like it may have to go. Did I mention he is a cop.

Rick if you were the neighbor you might worry as well, they seek water roots are under his fence its only a matter of time before the ultimate also the roots on top of the soil will soon make it hard to cut the grass as i have seen some tree's do that. Save your money as i think an aborist will tell you the same thing cut it down. In the end you both have piece of mind cause if you dont and 1 day it does invade his pool then what, if it were me i would whack it this spring and grow some ornamental tree as a replacement and stay away from bradford pear tree's they dont get pears and are very pretty in spring but split in storms as i have found out weeping willows are similar as well.
Martin

Rick, if you can, just cut the trees down. In the end, you will save yourself a lot of heartache -- they do destroy pools and yards. My neighbor to the back had one that broke through our mutual fence. I didn't ask, but he on his own cut it down. To this day on that side of my yard, it's hard to plant because the ground still has lots of very strong roots that makes it hard to dig. To my left, another beautiful huge ficus that neighbor cut down because it was breaking up their driveway and mine.

Hi, I saw this post earlier and I can so relate. When I purchased my first home, I wanted to make it look nice. I went to the nursery and bought two trees. A Chinese Elm and a Ficus. They were both little twigs. Years later, both grew into BEAUTIFUL trees. Stunning really. I started to have plumbing problems. I was having the sewer snaked every other month. At one point, it was every month. I still refused to chop it down. The plumber himself told me it is the Ficus and to chop it down or he might as well move in. HA! I was so stubborn in my younger years. :o) I even had him change the pipes. When they dug the trench, I could actually see the root going into the pipe in SEVERAL places. My ficus tree roots never surfaced. They were happy going into the sewer pipe and clogging it. After that got fixed, it started to crack the concrete walkways and planter. The planter is just 5 ft. from the house. I then realized it was that damn tree or the house foundation. I hated to do it but I had it removed. This was THOUSANDS of $'s later.

I have a neighbor that put in several in their front yard. When they did it, I was shaking my head. 2 days ago, they had all of them removed. Probably going for the pipes and the house.

Do everyone a favor and save your money with the arborist. Have them removed. There is no way to contain them. Really.

Nancy

Im in the business of Hydro - Jetting, and i will remove all roots without chemicals, or digging and no snaking. please give me a call im in the Los Angeles, CA area

888 722-3131

We planted two small Ficus benjaminas near our pond years ago when we lived in central Florida. They grew like weeds. They made the most beautiful trees. They had huge above ground roots. We sold the property 10 years ago. I always wondered if they kept those trees or not. They were quite a ways from the septic tank.

Get rid of the damn tree,. They are destructive, have invasive roots for neighbors, and shed leaves constantly. In short,, as mich as you love it, the tree creates a massive amoint of work for your neighbor to keep the proprerty neat and clean and deal with the inbasive and enormous roots that destroy foundations, driveways, sidewalks, lawms, and relationships between naighbors. My neighbor has an enormous one on oiur property line. He will not take it down nor trim it. ive decided to cut anything that crosses on to my property even if it (hopefully) kills it. Amd if it dies, i pray it falls on his house.

Aren't you just a perfect little ray of pitch black!

Al

It has been 12 years since thread started and wonder what happened to solve the problem.

Martin

I really think nurseries should put a huge warning sign for these trees. I am going to have to cut down my beautiful trees 20 plus years old. They have not caused damage, but I am sure it's inevitable.

Ok….so we had to actactually physically turn one of our ficus tall beautiful tree around - to do that we had to cut its two original powerful tap roots…the ones that seek water we were aftdid it would kill tree. tree has been more sparse now but it also relies on us completely fir water ask the aborist about tap roots also ? and come over to analyze

Omg your comments was 13 yrss ago

... happens all the time, Susan. I often reply to old posts because I know others will come across the information at some later point in time while they are searching for information, so don't feel like you've wasted anyone's time, including your own.

Unless your tree came into being as the product of a seed germinating, it doesn't really have a tap root/ primary root in the sense that a tap root is the first organ to appear after a seed germinates. Almost all ficus that you would buy at retail would be the product of propagation by cuttings or tissue culture, so all the roots produced by those methods would be considered to be of the adventitious type, which simply means roots that do not occur where they would normally grow.

However - that information is provided for those who might be interested in that sort of stuff, and not meant to call into question what you said. For all intents and purposes, several of the plant's roots will have grown deep in the soil where they act as primary roots/ tap roots in that they serve as anchorage against toppling and as conductive plumbing for (primarily but not exclusively) water. Your tree's dependency on you for water will be nullified by new roots which will grow deep into the soil to take the place of those severed.

Al

I posted another question about a ficus tree with a different nuance (tree was in a pot for many years before getting transplanted into the ground. Maybe someone can help with this one? https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6413674/mistake-with-ficus-benjamina