hmm well I am in big trouble already then. I think the neighbors have trees closer than 100 ft to my septic lines. The lot is narrow and there are neighbors on both sides right next to us. I have mature oaks and hickory trees closer than 100 feet that are at the far end of my own property. There is no way in 1 million yrs my dh would cut them. We cut a silver maple and an elm that was covering the yard with surface roots. I have a sweet gum tree about 30 ft or so from the tank. I would like to keep it, I would like to cut it. Maybe I'll keep it, but it should probably go....well you see the dilemma there! I planted some maples this past summer, but considering I don't know for SURE where the lines are and can only guess at this point, I would say they are 50 ft from the lines, considering they get 30 ft wide, or in other words 15 ft wide on that side. There is no rain water running off to that area, in fact it is slightly a raised area. I say slightly, because you can't really tell, it is a gradual slope, not like on a hump or anything like that. If all I planted was a veggie or herb garden, I would think that would be shallow enough roots? I understand that when the rain field becomes saturated or clogged the water discharged has no where to go so the septic backs up into the house....a pretty bleak thought. I think that switching to natural soap products in the house should make the area safe for planting over, I will look that up and see what I find.
