Hi all I cut my elderly woman neighbours lawn and last time she mentioned she wanted me to cut down three small trees/shrubs (around 4 ft tall) that have been yellowed from the roots up (basically slowly dying) by cat's urine she believes. She wants me to take them down then remove the roots.

I don't want to make a complete mess of this, so whats the best option? Saw at the root then dig down? What should I do to the turf after etc?

Emabrrisnlgy, I don't know the species of trees, they're those really common generic evergreen ones that border walls and hedges everywhere in the UK with slightly pungent "leaves".

Many thanks!

I'm no expert by far, but i have taken it upon myself to chop down several large shrubs and small trees.

It seems to me that the best way for me is to saw through the trunk at the lowest point.

Then i use a fork and a pick axe to hack around the roots and loose them up.

If there is a big root, i saw through it and then lever the base of the shrub/tree to reveal more large roots to saw through until it it loose enough to lever to whole base up.

I just cover over the holes with soil or grass.

It takes about 1 hour per shrub for the roots, but i'm not very strong - it would probably be much faster for my husband...

Many thanks for the reply!

Hi Gazh, Please DONT cut it down first to ground level, I see this mistake being made all the time ! The reason being is that if you cut it down first, you then have nothing to 'tug' on as you dig it out. I would be very suprised if it has indeed been killed by cat urine ?? Its possible but I think, unless this neighbour has 30 tom cats ?? If thats the case, I'm sure that as soon as you start to dig, you would smell it ? Anyway, sharpen your spade with a file, lay on the lawn a sheet of polythene and cut out a nice neat square (size will depend on the state of the grass under the tree) I would think about 18" should be big enough and dig around the tree, cutting the roots as you go. Eventually you will find that by pulling on the tree and lifting with the spade the tree will come out ( you might need to dig out some soil to get at the roots, hence the polythene)
If the soil doesnt smell of urine, then just backfill with some soil and returf and water this turf well and continue to water daily for about a week. If it does smell of urine, then dig out the soil to about 12" deep and refill with fresh soil and then returf.
hope this helps, Lannerman

Oh thanks Lannerman. Yeah I know I thought that about the cats as well, there's not that many there.
Basically the trees are yellowing from the root up and do look bad wonder whats causing it? Any ideas?.
What's weird is that since I cut the lawn last horrible dinner plate sized patches of yellow dead grass have appeared literallty over night all around them. I haven't seen her yet though it looks as if she has liberally applied weedkiller to spots on the lawn lol.

Thanks for the advice will do as you say!

Also regarding the sharpening of spade, what type of file, an oilstone?

Hi Gazh, No just a regular file just to get an 'edge', it will be much easier to cut the roots with. If these plants are only 4ft tall, they wont take much getting out. It sounds to me as if these trees have been poisoned by chemical ?? Ask her if shes put anything around them ??
Lannerman

Yeah I'll be sure to ask her, thanks.

You know when you said about relaying turf on top, anything I need to know about this process?

Being the lazy man that I am I would connect two of the shrubs
together with a tool called a " come along" sort of a racheting
winch. One will pull right out of the ground and then you tie off to
the remaining one and again one will remain and one will pull from the
ground. Dig the last one.

Hi Gazh, Just make sure that the soil is well firmed and for a small area like that, I lay the turf, then flood the grass then using a short plank, slam the plank on the wet ground and the new turf will be level with the old.
If possible, try to get the turf from the same lawn, maybe from around the edge, even if it means reseeding the area you took the turf from, that way its sure to match. It really depends wich piece is visually more important. Finally, if your taking up turf to do the repair, make sure you water it well before lifting, this will make your job much easier, and dont forget, water water water !
Lannerman

Great stuff thanks very much!