The message 0
from Mike and Yvonne contains these words:

We are definitely not natural gardeners so any help here would be
appreciated.

We have recently had a tree chopped down in our garden and had the stump
removed. About 3 weeks later we noticed new 'plants' growing all over
the garden. We dug these up and thought nothing more of it. The same
thing happened again about 3 weeks later. Having dug a bit deeper it
seems that these 'plants' are growing from the roots of the tree that we
had cut down. I tried digging up these roots, but the more I dug the
more roots I found. It seems that our whole garden is a mesh of tree
roots and it is nigh on impossible for me to dig them up.

Your tree was probably either poplar/aspen/cherry/plum/rhus, all of
which can sucker freely from distant roots when the tree is injured. The
person who cut it down should have treated the stump with poison then
left it some weeks or months, so that the roots would have chance to
absorb the poison and die before the stump was removed.

Now you don't have a convenient way to reach and kill the extensive
old roots. Digging up suckers will stimulate the old roots to produce
yet more suckers, pulling is better.

The solution is to keep pulling them up/off as fast as they appear,
including next spring and summer. This will eventually starve the old,
suckering root system to death. It's really important to do it often and
keep right on top of it, as every new leaf will sustain the growth of
new roots. You'll have to keep removing them until no more appear, and
advise any neighbours to do the same.

If the tree is rhus/sumach,(frondy leaves with furry stems) take care.
Contact can cause a skin allergy.

Janet.