Protecting underground PVC

I just fixed (I hope) a leak in the PVC of my IG pool. The leak was on a cracked 90 elbow under some Split Leaf philidandrian plants. I assume the roots from the split leaves caused it. Anyone have any suggestions on protecting the PVC from further abuse? I really like the split leaves as they provide a really awesome shade to that part of the pool And they look good too. :^)

I was thinking of cutting up a crate and placing it upside down over the PVC. Comments?

Thanks!

The first 90 is probably the most common leak point. It's just movement and leverage that does it in. I doubt anything short of a tree would cause problems.

Thanks John! With that in mind, I won't worry about protecting it. (Makes things easier anyway) :^)

Thanks!

Brad R.

It is a typical design for a civil site plan to pour some concrete around those elbows to absorb the inertia of the water hitting the turn. If you -really- want to protect -all- the PVC, you can encase all of it in concrete. That's usually only used on PVC that carries electrical or data cabling. So the guy on the backhoe installing a sprinkler system 20 years later doesn't dig through it.:p