Has anyone encountered a problem with the roots from a grapevine invading old ceramic plumbing ? My plumber described the roots as 'very fine', but felt that they could have even come from the neighbours Ponciana 30 or so metres away. I believe that the vine is the culprit - the neighbour cut the vine right back in Winter, and we were both surprised with the lush growth which arrived in Spring, despite neither of us watering the thing (I was debating whether or not to remove it completely - looks like my decision has been made a lot easier !)

The cruellest part of this is that the vine has produced a huge amount of fruit - grapes which I am now inclined to throw on the compost heap, given that the vine has been in my septic drain. Apologies if you've just eaten.

I would have thought the Ponciana would have been the troublemaker, but if it is lush green growth why that speaks for itself......MM

MM.

The old terracotta pipes came in 2ft (about 60cm) lengths and were cemented together. Over time, the joins break down, cracks appear in the pipes, etc. and you get leakage. This attracts roots to the area and fine feeding roots invade the cracks and end up inside the pipes, roots expand and hairline cracks expand into real cracks and pipe breaks.

With this scenario, it doesn't really matter what plant is in the vicinity - in one of the sewer pipes we replaced, we had couch grass roots.

The newer sewerage pipes come in much longer lengths (fewer joins) and the joins are chemical welds which (apparently) last for years.

We found a plumber who was willing to do the actual plumbing bit - we provided the labour and it worked out at quite a reasonable cost.

There is no need to put the grapes on the compost. Feeder roots take only the desired nutrients out of the soil - the same nutrients which are available in blood and bone or chemical fertilisers or human waste.

I know a fat lamb producer who annually top dresses his paddocks with dried sewerage (and god's know what else) from Sydney - this must be a fairly common agricultural practice. If you are going to throw your grapes on the compost, you'd better give up eating altogether.

I agree that I have to fix the plumbing, but the vine was already under threat as it sits on a fence that my neighbour and I need to replace : this is simply another reason to get rid of the old girl.

On the point of eating the produce, I'm not squeamish about the content of fertiliser etc, but everything I have read about 'brown water' in the garden says 'Dont even think about it'. I even read an article recently saying that the risks of using 'grey' water are too high. I know that several '3rd World' countries use human effluent on their crops, but said countries dont have very good mortality figures either. For the sake of a few grapes (OK, a lot of grapes...), I'll just let the birds have them this time.

Cheers,

Artie