A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Shrubs and Trees out of control philodendron

We recently moved and based on some pictures I have viewed I belive we have "split leaf philodendron or "elephant ear philodendron. It is relatively short (about 3-4 feet tall), but very wide. It has huge leaves and the roots appear to be crawling around the plant. It also has something that sort of looks like a banana growing in it. The trunk is very thick and looks thorny.

My concern is that it was planted very close to the house and a small walk way. Will the roots do damage to the house? Again, the roots seem to be out of control and appear to be "crawling" everywhere.

Two questions: Will the roots do damage to the house. If we decide to remove the plant what is the best way to make sure that all of the roots will stop "growing".
Thanks for your help

welcome, Redwind.
That fruit on your plant is a banana type edible fruit. I think more like plantain. But I have never eaten one. These plants always have some aerial roots that do odd things and then dig down into the ground. I like that feature of them a lot. A very prehistoric look.
The split leaf philo probably won't break up a concrete sidewalk. It can be cut back hard to about three leaves if it is growing out of bounds and in the way. If you want to remove it to actually get rid of it, I would dig down and remove as much of the rootball as possible just so I could plant something tidier in its place. I don't think it has a high incidence of regrowth from roots accidentally left behind but if it did regrow you can dig some more.