Planting on a percolation area

bazbrady

Hi Guys,
So im currently adding on an extension and also installing a new water treatment system.The issue im concerned about is the percolation area is 18 metres long for each pipe and 5 seperate pipes at 2 metres apart so will cover a decent size area.I had explained to the site assessor that i wanted to plant around the site ,currently just a lawn.He didnt really seem that interested and wasnt that mad about raised percolation area or using a polishing coco filter to reduce the percolation size foothprint.Anyway what plants can i plant in percolation areas if any or is it just once you dont plant trees.?Any advice welcome as i really would like to eventual plant up this area with a mixture of shrubs ,perennials and annuals.

New Home

Would you consider a reed bed? It'd help with purifying the waste water too.

Lumen

What depth are the pipes going to be buried? You might consider using the sort of root barriers that are used with running bamboo varieties.

I would take advice from a company that maintains septic systems, as they'll know what sort of planting causes problems.

You might consider a wildflower meadow as the roots are minimal and you're starting from scratch so can get the correct (low) soil fertility right from the beginning.

the_pen_turner

Have you considered having the same area of perxolation but spread over a larger area so that you could leave areas for the planting
You could widen the gaps between the pipes or put them at angles to leave an island in the middle

Definitely use more pipes and fittings and digger time but could be worth it to break up a large lawn area

Dig all

There is certain types of plants that you can plant over a percolation area , you should go get advice to see what's best for your situation, garden centre should know.

macraignil

bazbrady wrote: »

Hi Guys,
So im currently adding on an extension and also installing a new water treatment system.The issue im concerned about is the percolation area is 18 metres long for each pipe and 5 seperate pipes at 2 metres apart so will cover a decent size area.I had explained to the site assessor that i wanted to plant around the site ,currently just a lawn.He didnt really seem that interested and wasnt that mad about raised percolation area or using a polishing coco filter to reduce the percolation size foothprint.Anyway what plants can i plant in percolation areas if any or is it just once you dont plant trees.?Any advice welcome as i really would like to eventual plant up this area with a mixture of shrubs ,perennials and annuals.

Was interested in this question myself as I have planted trees and shrubs near our percolation area and found no problem and seen the question asked before. I found this web page from Waterford County Council that advises not to plant anything on or near a percolation area except grass. It claims roots from nearby trees and shrubs may clog drain lines.



Not followed this advice fully myself with some shrubs and young trees near our system but I also read before that modern sealed pipes are less susceptible to having roots grow into them. It seems however that the official advice is not to risk potential damage to your sewage treatment system. It might be hard to get any body to give official advice that could lead to damage to your waste water treatment system even if the risk was negligible. As a general rule of thumb the root area of a plant tends to be about the same as the above ground growth so the planting you want to do would need to reflect this if you want the roots not to reach the percolation pipes. If it is a metre deep then plants less than a metre high would be fine in my opinion but that's just an opinion and as mentioned does not match the official advice in the link above.