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  • Planting against house wall
  • anotherdeadhero
    Free Member

    Anyone got any tips for places with authoritive advice? A bit of googling is just turning up the usual conflicting hear-say and dribble.

    We have a tiny back garden. The house is constructed in the newest new-build way – timber frame and half brick skin. I want to grow a single cherry tree espalier against the south facing back wall, as this is the ONLY position it could go in.

    I’m sure the above ground growth will not interact at all with the half brick skin (rawled hook and wire) and I’m not going any more than 6ft high.

    What I can’t seem to get, is any authoritive advice about any possible interaction with the foundations (other than a lot of teeth sucking). Either direct (root infiltration) or indirect (clay/marl contraction). I’ve assessed services. The house builder and NHCC are useless.

    I can’t get the root stock much more than 12″ from the nominal wall line, and I’m not especially keen on growing in a container – constant mulching and watering is a PITA! I’m not sure root stock constriction would help yeild in a cherry, like it does in some other soft fruits.

    richc
    Free Member

    You could try here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qp2f

    However after just spending 14K to get a house re-rendered due to ‘decorative’ plants growing against the front of a house. Personally I wouldn’t let anything near it

    nickjb
    Free Member

    Can’t help much but we’ve got a cherry tree and it’s lifted the footpath and the roots extend a long way popping new cherry trees up all over the garden, one even grew up through the compost heap! I wouldn’t want it any closer to the house.

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    anotherdeadhero
    Free Member

    OMG. I thought I was middle-aged enough without putting a call in to GQT 🙂

    The house isn’t rendered. The cherry won’t interact with the brick skin at all. Trust me 🙂

    The rose and blackcurrant in the front mind …

    Taff
    Free Member

    It’s also the house foundations you have to look out for as well as drains etc. Planting a tree that take up the water has an affect on ground condition ie heave and could have an affect on the house. Not an engineer so not entirely sure but I know in the hosues I design we have to put in root protection area to prevetn the tree spreading too close to the house and services.

    anotherdeadhero
    Free Member

    zzz

    What I can’t seem to get, is any authoritive advice about any possible interaction with the foundations (other than a lot of teeth sucking). Either direct (root infiltration) or indirect (clay/marl contraction). I’ve assessed services. The house builder and NHCC are useless.

    thepurist
    Full Member

    A lot of it depends on the type of soil the house is on – if it’s a shrinkable clay then the impact of a tree next to the foundations will be far greater than if it’s sand.

    You can also control the vigour/final size of the tree by sourcing one on a suitable rootstock so it won’t be trying to grow roots big enough to support a large specimen. Also if you’re really keen then excavate next to the house & sink a large container (or similar root barrier) into the soil to control root spread.

    craigxxl
    Free Member

    We had to cut down a cherry tree from our garden due to the damage the roots had done to the garden boundary wall and garage base. This was full size tree and approx 5 feet from any wall. The sap and cherry blossom is a pain in the backside too and very slippy when wet.

    anotherdeadhero
    Free Member

    Cheers purist. I was starting to think Plan B in sinking a large container would be a good way to go. It will be on a dwarf root stock. I don’t want to cover the entire wall – and we need to be realistic about yeild given the availible sun, water, and feed.

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