Monday, November 16, 2009

A Big Fat Problem

This is the sight of what was a big problem for us in a plant in SJC. The trunk of this ponytail palm had grown over the sprinkler valves and finally broke the pipe, creating a constant leak into this raised planter. Because the planter was filled with vegetation we did not notice the leak until it had eroded the bottom of the planter and was seeping out into the ground below it and the whole area became sopping wet. It took a while to figure out where the leak was coming from because there are sprinklers and other pipes that run through this planter. What a headache it was, but as you can see by the new sprinkler valves in the photo above, it is all under control now. Thank goodness!

3 comments:

Noelle Johnson said...

My goodness! I have not seen a PonyTail Palm with such a large trunk. It proves the point that people should read the label on the plant to see how big it will get before they decide to plant it :0)

Anonymous said...

Oh my word! That is just crazy. Look how big those roots are, too! Glad you got it all resolved, but what a pain in the rear (and probably quite costly, too)!

CanadianGardenJoy said...

That is a big root Sheila !
No wonder it caused problems .. I always have the thought in the back of my mind .. where do all of my tree roots sneak off to I wonder ?? LOL
Joy