Conifer roots - do I need to kill?

veryintrigued

Thanks, in part, to some great advice on here our neighbour has now successfully removed a conifer which was within a metre of our house.

We've now been able to take a look at the roots and have removed the main (circa 40mm) ones. What we have left are 10mm ones which run away from the house.

Now that the 10 foot conifer has been removed will the roots continue to grow? If so can we kill them without taking up lots of slabs and digging?

Thanks for any useful advice

Yorkie1

I don't think conifers resprout.

scbk

You don't say what type of tree it is, but the only conifer likely to regrow from a stump is Wellingtonia, and it's unlikely someone would have one in their garden

veryintrigued

scbk wrote: »

You don't say what type of tree it is, but the only conifer likely to regrow from a stump is Wellingtonia, and it's unlikely someone would have one in their garden

Unsure what the type is and now that it has been removed I doubt I ever will - the neighbours who took it down werent the original 'planters' so they probably wont either.

Your information sounds hopeful though - thank you for taking the time to get back to me.

Whilst I have the root remnants exposed it is worth treating them with something 'just in case' - if so any idea what?

Thanks again

scbk

veryintrigued wrote: »

Whilst I have the root remnants exposed it is worth treating them with something 'just in case' - if so any idea what?

Nah I wouldn't bother

sirbrainy

You could certainly pour a few litres of vegetable oil or diesel etc over the stump - kills big living trees nicely so should definitely kill off any green sprouts lol

Davesnave

sirbrainy wrote: »

You could certainly pour a few litres of vegetable oil or diesel etc over the stump - kills big living trees nicely so should definitely kill off any green sprouts lol

Errr... this is a money saving forum!:rotfl: ...and those aren't the nicest things to do to a garden, especially since they're unnecessary.
As others have said, the conifer won't re-grow from those roots, so you can consider the job done now.

gardenroute

A few uncommon conifers can grow back from bare wood, but the OP says its just the smaller roots left anyway. IMHO just leave them to rot. Any chemical will slow the rotting process.

veryintrigued

Appreciate the help here - many thanks for all the input!