GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Poplar tree removal

28-08-2003, 06:32 PM

in article , Mike Lyle at
wrote on 28/8/03 6:11 pm:

"P&J" wrote in message
...
I am having a poplar type tree removed from my garden. The tree surgeon says
that he needs to use poison on the stump to prevent it growing back.

Is this essential & would the poison be dangerous ?

I plan on having an organic veggie patch - only a few metres a way & already
have a few things very near to the tree -so I do have some concerns.

The tree man would be wrong to leave the stump behind: any fool can
just cut a tree down. Lawrence D. Hills in his very good Penguin Book
*Organic Gardening* has detailed instructions for extracting a tree up
to a foot thick.

If the tree is cut a few feet from the ground, in some situations the
stump can be hauled out with a winch: if your tree man doesn't know
how to do it, I'd find one who knows what he's doing.

There may be reasons for not using this treatment, such as a tree being
close to a wall or fence. I had 8 just like that.

If you do have to leave a stump, bore several holes in the top and
fill them with dry sodium chlorate weedkiller, then cover with
something waterproof. The chlorate will both kill the stump and make
it easy to burn with a fire on top a few weeks later. None of the
chemical should escape if your cover stays in place; but make sure it
doesn't, as it's a total unselective plant-killer which can hang about
in the ground: the makers say six months to be on the safe side.

The OP is worried about the use of poisons or didn't you see that? That was
the reason for his query.
I'd think that someone who didn't want poisons near his veg patch would be
worried about something so toxic that it could lay waste to said patch for 6
months - maybe.
snip
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Sacha
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