Those Damn Tree Roots Are Back

     This year I got the worse tomato crop ever, in my greenhouse.  I watered the plants every day, but I noticed that the soil was always very dry.  I began to suspect that maybe tree roots creeped into the bed, sucking out all of the water.  Once the growing season was over, I ripped out the plants, and dug around in the bed, and sure enough, tree roots had gotten back in.

    Invasive tree roots had invaded before, and in the spring of 2019 I was determine to eliminate the problem, so I dug all of the soil out of the bed, and lined the bed with some old metal roofing I had.  I figured that barrier would keep the tree roots out, but I guess I was a bit too optimistic.  Below is a photo showing some of the sheets of metal roofing I buried in the greenhouse.

    Those trees were sure determined to get to the water in my tomato bed.  They found the narrow crack in the corners in the metal roofing I laid down, and entered and spread from there.  Tree roots are killed by copper, so I will try to put some small copper sheets at the corners to see if that will discourage the roots in the future.  

    Over the last week, I dug up half of the bed and pulled up the roots I have found.   They are shown in the photo below.  

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