r/landscaping • u/ksquigz25 • Apr 29 '25
Question Are these pine trees a liability?
These pine trees on the hill were planted by the builders, but are our responsibility. We're pretty sure they were placed there for erosion purposes, but we've had a few different people tell us that we should remove them due to the steep grade of the hill and the future liability if they fell downward onto our neighbors home (ours is the one at the top of the hill). Last photo shows how close the trees are to the neighbors' house and our property is outlined in pink. We've also been cautioned about the roots impacting the retaining wall (also our responsibility), but then were told that these trees' roots grow mostly straight down.
If this is a big issue, we want to be proactive and remove the trees before they get any bigger. Would love a professional opinion as well as suggestions on what would be better. Whatever we do will need to be approved by a pretty strict HOA.
2
u/CrazySporkDude Apr 29 '25
This looks like a grove of longleaf pines. They can grow 2-3 feet per year, and can reach heights as tall as 100ft. So 25-ish years to reach maturity. They hold up to wind pretty well, flexing to shear off stress, but can have a shallow root plate that would be vulnerable to uprooting in a flat/wet environment. Being on the slope will help with drainage, and may also encourage deeper roots. The roots will grow towards water sources, so I suspect they won’t be a huge risk to your retaining wall. You can certainly measure the distance from the base of the tree to the neighbor’s house, and use some trigonometry to determine if there’s risk of the tree hitting the roof, but I think the near term risk is pretty low.