To Who it may concern, I need to know how I can permanently kill roots because there is a huge evergreen beside my house and its roots are growing into my basement. Are there any chemicals or techniques that I can use to stop the roots from advancing and not kills the tree? If anyone can solve this, I will most appreciate it. Thank you. Gloria
The only way to kill just some of these roots is to physically separate (cut) them from the tree. The cut portions will die, but that will not prevent the tree from growing new ones over time, provided it survives the cutting operation. If this tree is huge or even just big, you should have a professional arborist look at it to determine if cutting these roots will either kill or seriously injure the tree, or may actually make it dangerously unstable. The roots, after all, are what holds it up. Ralph
you could consider using an airspade (if you happen to own one otherwise you need to hire someone that has one) and excavating the root zone near the foundation. have the roots pruned as necessary to keep them from going indoors via the foundation. install root barrier ( http://www.deeproot.com/products/products.php?SL=root_barriers&BL=1 ) product and you should limit or eliminate the problem.