Q. The tree is very large elm tree that is old but healthy. I cut off an large old dead branch and found carpenter ants had made a 3 in wide tunnel through it into the trunk of the tree. I flushed it with water and hundreds of ants came out but they wouldn't die with the water. I flooded their hole for @ 15 minutes and the water didnt affect them just made them flee. I want to kill them without killing the tree, and dont want to poison the squirles. Please help before they kill the tree.

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Q. I want to plant a mid-sized tree near the corner of my yard (full grown size is maybe 15' tall). The problem is there are a few buried irrigation lines right there. How far away should I plant from the lines? Will the roots interfere with them at all or will it only be a problem for the tree if I ever have to service the lines (cutting through roots, etc). Would it be a problem to only plant it a foot or two away, or is there a minimum distance?

A. No, you have no worries here, you are talking sprinkler lines, small bore lines, and probably rubber, very flexable so they will move as the roots of your tree grow. In any case, the height of your trees are only fifteen feet high, so conseqently the roots will be shallow and therefore light. So go ahead plant your tree where you like you will have no problems.

Q. My mum planted an avocado tree from seed about 20 yrs ago. I think the tree was grown from a Hass avocado. The fruit is large and becomes black when ripe. It now stands over 20ft tall, unfortunately only a couple of metres away from our home. More awkward still, the tree is surrounded by concrete, which is now raised and uneven from the roots below. I'm worried the roots will damage the water pipes and foundations, etc (I have noticed a few cracks in the ceiling recently). Our unit is one of 4 and we are the third unit up a driveway, which could make removal difficult. Does anyone know what my options are?What kind of expert could tell me the state of these roots? Thanks!

A. A building inspector will undoubtedly recommend that you remove the tree but an arborist may be able to offer you some other suggestions. A twenty foot avocado surrounded by concrete would be difficult to move alive even with a hydrualic tree spade, but a tree doctor may have some root pruning or other ideas. Worth a try.

Q. The neighbors have a Norway Maple that put about a dozen holes in our roof last year, along with damaging trim and gutter. It cost us $1200 to fix out of pocket. The insurance wouldn't cover it because it was covered under "wind and hail damage", which is separate from the standard coverage and based on a percentage of the policy rather than the deductible. We got a tree expert to come by and assess the tree, which he told us was "prone to shearing" due to the type of tree it was, and that the newly exposed branches would be more likely to break off. We forwarded this information to the neighbor, along with a letter from us saying we wanted the tree trimmed to a safe state, or removed entirely. This was done via certified mail. They had the damaged tree areas pruned, and no more than that. The tree height and healthy branches weren't touched. Fast forward to about 9 months later and a storm blew through, knocking more large parts of the tree into our house and punching new holes in our roof, along with minor trim damage - not as severe as before. Frankly, we're sick of paying for his tree breaking our house, and are worried that the whole thing will come down on our house; especially so because our bedroom is at that end of the building. We stopped by his house and asked him to pay for the damages and have the tree taken care of, he essentially said, "Too bad, insurance says it's not my problem, and I'm not responsible." Do we have a leg to stand on to go after him? We want him to pay for the damages to our roof at the very least, and really want the whole tree removed or at least severely shortened for our safety. We're sick of paying for damages caused by his tree. Because this is a repeat damage from same neighbor and tree, and even though the cost of repair is less than our deductible, we filed a claim with our insurance company. We explained the situation to the agent when he called and asked him to notify the tree owner's insurance company. We will try to get his ins. co. to pay us for repairs via subrogation, and if that doesn't work we'll probably have to try the courts.

(No Chosen Answer)

Q. I have about a 30ft Maple in my front yard (actually on the patch of grass at the curb) and it sits squarely above the sewer line which runs from my house out to the street. I had to have the sewer line augered out about 9 months ago and this morning found that it is plugged again :o( Is my only option getting the tree removed? and if it is removed will the roots continue to grow still or will that solve the problem. P.S. the guy who cleaned the sewer line out last time said to drill some holes in it and pour some Muratic acid in so the tree would die, then the city would have to cut it down. As tempting as that sounds I would think an Arborist would look at it to find out why it died before the city spent money to remove it, and if it looked as though I had something to do with it I am sure there would be a lot of hell to pay so I would rather avoid that route.

A. The way you kill a tree without getting caught is copper nails. Drive a couple around the base of the tree (3-4) and within a month or so (depending on your regional moisture) it will die. Pull the nails out. Electrolysis. Ooops! But if I am understanding you correctly the tree is, in relation, located in an area that is between the street curb and the street edge of the sidewalk. So if I am correct, it is located in the city easement area. Where I live this belongs to you when its time for property taxes but you cant modify any part of this area as it really belongs to the city. But if by chance the city will take credit for this area they are responsible for the tree. Not the sewer, but at least the tree itself. If the tree has entered the sewer line in front of the curb, public works is responsible for this. They may remove the tree and that will in turn allow you to repair that section of sewer. As long as you do not have to enter the street, you will be able to avoid a "tap" into the city main. Your local municipality could help you with this, if you present it to them as sneaky as possible.

Q. The residential construction company I work for is sponsoring a tree in a christmas tree decorating contest. I have to decorate a tree in carpenter and construction theme. Looking for creative ideas. Thanks in advance.

A. Go to a toy store and buy miniature back hoes, haulers, graders. trucks, and other pieces of 'heavy' equipment. If you have a craft shop near by, you might find these items in wood. Then buy small hammers, levels, saws. framing squares, etc. Use these as your ornaments along with a few well placed miniature hay bales. Buy a large piece of flannel to use as the tree skirt and use a similar wide plaid ribbon as garland well tucked into the tree branches for added depth. Make small bows out of one of the primary colors in the flannel & ribbon (red?) and hang them in the places you need to fill in. Use wide ribbon in the same plaid to make the topper for the tree. Make two large bows and place one on each side of the tree then fan them out for an attention grabbing topper. Don't skimp on lights and if they are wrapped around the branches the tree will have that fairy tale quality. Use minature white lights so that every 'ornament' is highlighted. Hang the items in a loose triangle. One on the tip of a branch, one a littl further in and the last one well into the branches. This adds interest and deepth to the tree as well. The triangles can overlap. I used to work for an interior plant company and we spent months decorating trees. The link below has good suggestions for the lights, etc; http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/decorating/article/0,1793,HGTV_3545_1378781,00.html Sounds like a fun project. Hope you win the contest! :)

Q. I have a big maple leaf tree on my front yard. Starting last year i have had constant sewer back up problems, water would keep coming up the drain in my basement floor any time i would flush the toilet, wash clothes, shower ANYTHING TO DO WITH WATER. I have had the city come twice to do a sewer lateral cleaning, once last year, and the most recent cleaning was July 09. Now it is November 09 and i am having the same problem. I washed clothes on the weekend, only to watch brown guck come up the drain again! The city says i have to pay for it because the tree is considered to be on my property. It is getting rather frustrating, should i contact the ombudsman to make a complaint?

A. The tree is on your property therefore it's your responsibility to have it removed. Obviously you have roots growing through your sewer line therefore the blockage. You can have it scoped with a camera to find the blockage, however you will have to have all the line dug up and replaced if this persist, you can't keep "snaking it" as this problem will keep persisting until it's done correctly.

Q. Also, what's a good hardy (pretty?) shrub and/or ground-cover to plant in the city? Sorry for the long detail, but I'm looking for a well-tuned answer so I'm giving a well-tuned question... Baltimore City recently jack-hammered up a few tree pits on my street. They put one tree in (right in front of my house), left one empty (next door), and there's a dead tree and a few weeds in another pit (two doors down). The soil in the two new pits is ... awful. It looks and feels like they just ground the concrete to dust and left it there. It's hard, and I seriously doubt much water is getting to the tree (I water it 2-3 times a week in this heat wave) -- an awful lot of it just runs off onto the sidewalk and into the gutter. The soil in the third pit (I think it was dug up about a year ago) is not much better, but it is at least growing a 'healthy' cover of weeds. We'd like to spruce up the street a bit, including matching tree-pit guards on all three, some sort of shrubs in the empty pit and the dead-tree/weed pit, and some ground-cover in my tree pit. In the empty pits I guess we can just replace some or all of the soil, but, is there anything we can do to improve the soil quality in the pit with the tree? I don't want to damage the roots by digging -- I have no idea how deep they are or where they are. The tree is about 12 feet tall, maybe 15? Very skinny for its height, high angled branches, and I don't know squat about green stuff but the leaves look like oak leaves. Can I ... put in worms? Food spikes? Plant grass? Something else to improve the quality of the soil around the tree? how far into the soil can I dig or aerate without worrying about damaging the tree? I really want this thing to live, but the soil is just awful! Also, any suggestions for a good city plant/shrub/bush/small tree (not too expensive) (and pretty) (preferably money will grow on it, or at least financial planners) to put in the other pits? Thanks for taking the time to read this novella... Any assistance is greatly appreciated! jw

A. Start layering on the compost..... any time you have some handy..... and some coffee grounds to call in the worms..... keep everything away from the trunk of the tree, but do add a layer of a nice mulch over the compost.... continue to water as necessary until the tree is there a year or more..... don't feed it in this first year... the compost will be sufficient... no fertilizer spikes.... if you want to do something nice for it, a root stimulator solution would be fine.... one of the best is willow tea if you happen to have a willow handy..... plant nothing up there that will compete with the tree....perhaps later on, some ground cover if you like.... but not until the tree is well rooted and happy and healthy.....