Thread: conifer stumps
View Single Post
  #10   Report Post  
Old 26-10-2002, 12:38 AM
Akkerman's Plektrum
 
Posts: n/a
Default conifer stumps


"Akkerman's Plektrum" wrote in

message
...
I chainsawed my (inherited) conifers to within 4" of the ground. What

now?
Will they stop growing or do I need to do something else to kill the

roots?
I'm sure some people move house because they have lost control over

their
conifers!!

They'll stop growing and rot. Eventually. But sawing down to that level

has
removed you of the chnce to use leverage to help get the roots out if

you
dig around them. You are probably better off either chainsawing again

just
to ground level, or getting someone with a stump grinder to dig them out
(expensive). A tree (not conifer) that I dug out but left some of the

roots
3 years ago has just rotted to the stage where they can be easily dug

out.I
suspect with conifer wood it will take longer for them to rot.


Apple and pear tree roots certainly do. I have one still there after more

than
10 years. It grows some spectacular fungi at this time of year. Adding a

bit of
nitrogen feed will encourage it to rot. Ammonium sulphamate sold as

rootout is
more or less a weedkiller that decays to a high nitrogen feed. It is quite
effective against stubborn tree roots that want to regrow and sucker.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Sorry been away a bit, thanks for all your help and musings. They are more
than 17 years old and between up to 9 inches around at the stump. They are
in soil but a root my neighbour cut through a metre down a few years ago(his
garden is lower than mine) was still 6" he says!! I have enough trouble
pulling dandelions up!! However logic tells me the roots alone won't demand
half as much water and nutrients as it needed for the foliage it once had.
Neighbour Jim reckons his onions will be twice the size next year with more
sunshine and less stolen nutrition "an tha can 'ave some Mick lad when
they're ready fer pullin" he said.
thanks again
mik