My elderly neighbour wants two of her three apple trees cut down and
stumps removed if possible. The trees are quite old + established.
Is there likely to be a large and deep root system on these to dig
out and if so would it be best to use some sort of chemical to kill
them off ?

Thanks for any help.

in article , Pete at
wrote on 8/2/03 4:23 pm:

My elderly neighbour wants two of her three apple trees cut down and
stumps removed if possible. The trees are quite old + established.
Is there likely to be a large and deep root system on these to dig
out and if so would it be best to use some sort of chemical to kill
them off ?

Thanks for any help.

Generally speaking, root spread is roughly the same as the canopy of a tree,
so if they're very old, those roots would take some shifting! Has she
considered cutting them down to say 10 or 12' stumps and then growing roses
or clematis over them? It's very pretty.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

"Pete" wrote in message
...
My elderly neighbour wants two of her three apple trees cut down and
stumps removed if possible. The trees are quite old + established.
Is there likely to be a large and deep root system on these to dig
out and if so would it be best to use some sort of chemical to kill
them off ?


Best way to remove is to cut down to around 5ft and use the trunck as a
lever to rock the root system. Excavate a little around the base then more
to access and cur roots as they are made evident by the rocking. Done slow
and steady it need not be too hard work.

pk

I removed a 50 year old apple tree from our garden. What we did was lift it
out with a JCB (we were building a workshop at the time) - the trunk went
into thground about 2 feet, and then on split into a number of roots. We
thenm filled in the hole and planted grass seed. We have had no problems
with suckers or mould.

Probably the easiest way would be to get a tree feller (NPTC certified and
with public liability insurance !) to fell the tree down to ground level,
and then use a stump grinder to go down a foot or two below ground level.

Simon

"PaulK" wrote in message
...

"Pete" wrote in message
...
My elderly neighbour wants two of her three apple trees cut down and
stumps removed if possible. The trees are quite old + established.
Is there likely to be a large and deep root system on these to dig
out and if so would it be best to use some sort of chemical to kill
them off ?


Best way to remove is to cut down to around 5ft and use the trunck as a
lever to rock the root system. Excavate a little around the base then more
to access and cur roots as they are made evident by the rocking. Done slow
and steady it need not be too hard work.

pk

I'd go with Sacha, cut them back and use the frame as a support for climbing
plants.
BUT you will have to kill off the tree or it will shoot out all over from
every cut limb


--
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

On Sat, 8 Feb 2003 21:00:56 -0000, "david"
wrote:


BUT you will have to kill off the tree or it will shoot out all over from
every cut limb

How would one go about doing this ?

I'd suggest drilling a couple of holes in the stump and stuffing in sheep's
wool. Souns crazy but my colleague, a certified gardener, says it works
every time.

"Pete" schreef in bericht
...
On Sat, 8 Feb 2003 21:00:56 -0000, "david"
wrote:


BUT you will have to kill off the tree or it will shoot out all over from
every cut limb

How would one go about doing this ?

Hi, from my experience old apple trees are usually quite soft, as they tend to have a limited life span.

A stump grinder would easily get through the stumps very quickly.

The chemical way to kill off medium sized stumps is SBK - you mix it with some car engine oil, drill holes into the stump, and pour it in.