Nuisance trees!

spidereyes

When I moved into my property last year there were several old tree stumps. They appeared to be dead, the tops of the stumps blackened and cuts put into them. The tops of the stumps do appear to be dead as there has been no growth on this, but the sides of the stump and the roots seem to be very much alive - every time we have sun my garden becomes swamped in new growth.

At the moment I'm out there every few weeks manually cutting it back but it's got to the point that they are going to have to be sorted.

Removing the trees aren't an option as they are growing with their main roots underneath concrete steps.

Is there any alternative to removing them which will stop the growth or at least slow it to a manageable amount that won't cost the earth?


Thanks in advance

blossomhill_2

I'd advise getting an expert in to stump grind them -anything else will cost you time, money and sanity

fwor

If you're prepared to pay someone to do it, stump grinding is the answer.

If you want the cheapest option, simply going out every few days and snapping off the shoots - which will be soft enough to break by hand - will stop them eventually. They are simply running on energy stored in the root system, and eventually it runs out and they die.

kingdavid2012

Like those guys above said,stump grinding is the option.

If you want to do it yourself,suggest you rip its bark off.

Farway

If site is suitable, spray the new growth with a paraquat based weedkiller, like Roundup or some "bramble" weed killer. It is not instant but will gradually kill the trees, you may have to respray new growth

TheMoneySpider

I had this problem with a tree we had cut down, used a standard stump killer and mannually hacked away at any of the root we could see.

Eventually the thing gave up the ghost but it was down to actively attacking the stump and roots rather than just chopping off what grew.

geoffky

A pickaxe works...dig away..