Greetings from New Zealand.

I have a sort of a problem. I have a tortured willow tree growing in my
section, and it is getting quite large. It was there before I moved into
the house ten years ago, and it looks as though it has been there another 30
or so years. The tree is not only getting large, it always grows over the
power line to our house. Coupled with that, there is a quite a boggy area,
(I think that it is a natural spring) near the tree.

What is the best solution, cut it down, or prune it? I want to put a garden
around the area of the tree, but the roots are well embedded in the ground.
I have just last weekend planted some water loving plants (including Chatham
Island Lily) and at present not sure how they are going as yet. I dug the
area for planting, and have found that immediately the area had filled with
water, and the roots of the tree caused a bit of a headache when trying to
dig.

If I cut the tree down, would the water problem be worse? I need some advice
on what the best solution could be.

Glen L Madigan

"Glen L. Madigan" wrote in message
news
Greetings from New Zealand.

I have a sort of a problem. I have a tortured willow tree growing in my
section, and it is getting quite large. It was there before I moved into
the house ten years ago, and it looks as though it has been there another
30
or so years. The tree is not only getting large, it always grows over the
power line to our house. Coupled with that, there is a quite a boggy
area,
(I think that it is a natural spring) near the tree.

What is the best solution, cut it down, or prune it? I want to put a
garden
around the area of the tree, but the roots are well embedded in the
ground.
I have just last weekend planted some water loving plants (including
Chatham
Island Lily) and at present not sure how they are going as yet. I dug the
area for planting, and have found that immediately the area had filled
with
water, and the roots of the tree caused a bit of a headache when trying to
dig.

If I cut the tree down, would the water problem be worse? I need some
advice
on what the best solution could be.

Glen L Madigan



The tree's doing well BECAUSE of the water. Cutting it down will make little
difference in the water situation. Someone picky will chime in here and say
"Oh, but everything you change makes SOME difference". Right. If a butterfly
dies, something happens at the other end of the universe. But the removal of
your tree won't change the characteristics of the water table on your
property. How about having a competent tree service prune it nicely? Here in
the states, the electric companies sometimes contract the work out to
private companies, some of which are good at what they do. What about NZ?

On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 15:56:27 +1300, Glen L. Madigan wrote:

Greetings from New Zealand.

I have a sort of a problem. I have a tortured willow tree growing in my
section, and it is getting quite large. It was there before I moved into
the house ten years ago, and it looks as though it has been there another
30 or so years. The tree is not only getting large, it always grows over
the power line to our house. Coupled with that, there is a quite a boggy
area, (I think that it is a natural spring) near the tree.

What is the best solution, cut it down, or prune it? I want to put a
garden around the area of the tree, but the roots are well embedded in the
ground. I have just last weekend planted some water loving plants
(including Chatham Island Lily) and at present not sure how they are going
as yet. I dug the area for planting, and have found that immediately the
area had filled with water, and the roots of the tree caused a bit of a
headache when trying to dig.

If I cut the tree down, would the water problem be worse? I need some
advice on what the best solution could be.

Glen L Madigan

Good Day Glen. I, personaly, would remove the tree all together. Once you
factor in the fact that this tree will need to be re-pruned in X amount of
years at X amount of cost, it's cheaper in the long run. Furthermore
you'll have to spend the time in between pruning's looking at a
dis-figured tree. I would suspect that the previous home owner planted the
tree to firm up the ground and to soak up some of this water.

If you do decide to remove this tree, it's quite possible that the tree
may re-grow from the stump. This may have to be dealt with a non-selctive
herbicide or a good 'ol fashioned stump grinding.

If the water is an issue for you, you may look into a curtain drain,dry
well or a french drain tile set up.

If you do decide to remove this tree, it's quite possible that the tree
may re-grow from the stump.

I had my first veggie garden close to a HUGE Willow Tree. Even if a branch
broke off from it and fell in the garden, it would start growing.
Best to get rid of the entire tree, stump and all.
Sue