conifer stumps
 

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!!

--
remove one bollock to reply

conifer stumps
 

What is their diameter? Are they surrounded by concrete, tarmacadam or
the like?

Regards,
Emrys Davies.





"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!!

--
remove one bollock to reply

conifer stumps
 

"Akkerman's Plektrum" pushed
briefly to the front of the queue on Mon, 21 Oct 2002 22:37:00 +0000
(UTC), and nailed this to the shed door:

^ 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!!

Grab your fork, and FOCUS on the task at hand ...

Andy

--
sparge at globalnet point co point uk

Anabolic is to catabolic as analogue is to ...

conifer stumps
 

Xref: 127.0.0.1 uk.rec.gardening:160992

On Tue, 22 Oct 2002 01:30:24 GMT, (Andy Spragg)
wrote:

"Akkerman's Plektrum" pushed
briefly to the front of the queue on Mon, 21 Oct 2002 22:37:00 +0000
(UTC), and nailed this to the shed door:

^ 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!!

Grab your fork, and FOCUS on the task at hand ...

Andy
.................................................. .........................
With respect Andy, using a fork - or most any other garden digging
tool - to remove the root of a mature conifer is akin to scrubbing
the M1 with a tooth brush.

On our Silver Wedding Anniversary we bought a conifer *guaranteed*
to grow no more than 8 - 10 feet. By the time we celebrated our
"Gold," it had surpassed 17 feet and still shooting upwards.
After another five years I couldn't be bothered to carry out the
necessary trigonometry, the tree was tatty and dwarfing our bungalow.
With heavy heart I brought in the trees' "Knackers Man" to
fell it, and to 'grub out' the roots. His machine wasn't up to it and
died on the job. A week later he was back with a new device which
in turn gave up the ghost after four hours or so. By this time there
was a pit 18" deep and the remains of a trunk almost five feet across.
The guy had done all that he could, and in fairness I told him to
accept the fact that the tree had won.

Another two years on, the shrubs (small ones) with which I
replaced "Goliath" are happily underway, though even
they look as though their ambition may be "Excelsior."

Losing an old friend and burying him/her is difficult. Digging them
up, is b****y nigh impossible!
.................................................. .........................

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.

--
Tumbleweed

Remove my socks before replying (but no email reply necessary to newsgroups)

conifer stumps
 

Tumbleweed wrote:

"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

conifer stumps
 

Serendipity pushed briefly to the front of
the queue on Tue, 22 Oct 2002 06:59:59 +0100, and nailed this to the
shed door:

^ On Tue, 22 Oct 2002 01:30:24 GMT, (Andy Spragg)
^ wrote:
^
^ "Akkerman's Plektrum" pushed
^ briefly to the front of the queue on Mon, 21 Oct 2002 22:37:00 +0000
^ (UTC), and nailed this to the shed door:
^
^ ^ 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!!
^
^ Grab your fork, and FOCUS on the task at hand ...

^ With respect Andy, using a fork - or most any other garden digging
^ tool - to remove the root of a mature conifer is akin to scrubbing
^ the M1 with a tooth brush.

With respect yourself (grits teeth), you are missing the POINT. Seeing
as you have been married at least 50 years, you must be of pensionable
age, and can be completely excused for not getting the joke (I did
capitalize it to signal its presence). However, I did think that most
people would recognise it as tongue-in-cheek even if they didn't get
the joke.

Anyway, he never said they were mature. I removed our three stumps
quite successfully using only a garden fork. They were only a few
inches in diameter; maybe A'sP's are too.

Andy

--
sparge at globalnet point co point uk

"His hair was cropped and washed, his chin clean shaven.
Only the eyes still said that whatever it was
the Universe thought it was doing to him,
he would still like it please to stop"
Douglas Adams, "So long and thanks for all the fish"

conifer stumps
 

On Tue, 22 Oct 2002 08:32:09 GMT, (Andy Spragg)
wrote:

Serendipity pushed briefly to the front of
the queue on Tue, 22 Oct 2002 06:59:59 +0100, and nailed this to the
shed door:

^ On Tue, 22 Oct 2002 01:30:24 GMT, (Andy Spragg)
^ wrote:
^
^ "Akkerman's Plektrum" pushed
^ briefly to the front of the queue on Mon, 21 Oct 2002 22:37:00 +0000
^ (UTC), and nailed this to the shed door:
^
^ ^ 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!!
^
^ Grab your fork, and FOCUS on the task at hand ...

^ With respect Andy, using a fork - or most any other garden digging
^ tool - to remove the root of a mature conifer is akin to scrubbing
^ the M1 with a tooth brush.

With respect yourself (grits teeth), you are missing the POINT. Seeing
as you have been married at least 50 years, you must be of pensionable
age, and can be completely excused for not getting the joke (I did
capitalize it to signal its presence). However, I did think that most
people would recognise it as tongue-in-cheek even if they didn't get
the joke.

Anyway, he never said they were mature. I removed our three stumps
quite successfully using only a garden fork. They were only a few
inches in diameter; maybe A'sP's are too.

Andy
.................................................. ...................................
Oh! I did miss the point didn't I?
... and there was me thinking that the use of a chain saw indicated
something like a tree sized tree! Also the thought that "I'm sure some
people move house because they have lost control over their conifers,"
showed the path of the contribution.

I understood that capitalising a word indicated shouting, but of
course it means inverted commas as in 'FOCUS' and perhaps 'POINT'.
Silly me!

Coincidentally as no one else saw the joke either, perhaps
it's your sense of humour that's erring a little?

Perhaps my contribution was more apposite
to the original contributor than your unfocussed joke. Geddit?

Regards...
Poor old doddering John.
.................................................. ..............................

conifer stumps
 

On Tue, 22 Oct 2002 20:44:49 GMT, (Andy Spragg)
wrote:

Serendipity pushed briefly to the front of
the queue on Tue, 22 Oct 2002 19:29:11 +0100, and nailed this to the
shed door:

^ Coincidentally as no one else saw the joke either, perhaps
^ it's your sense of humour that's erring a little?

No-one else failed to see the joke and called me on it. That's not
quite the same thing. For all we know, lots of urglers are tittering
or groaning away, without feeling impelled to record their amusement.

^ Perhaps my contribution was more apposite
^ to the original contributor than your unfocussed joke. Geddit?

Undoubtedly. I wasn't really aiming for appositeness, except in
respect of the OP's pseudonym. I am worthless and weak ...
beetles off to do 20 press-ups

Andy
.................................................. ...................
What a pleasant chap you turn out to be Andy. Please accept my
apologies for acting like a Meldrew! It's probably due to the age:-)

.... and so to bed!

John
.................................................. ................................

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