Animal friendly way to kill hedge stumps

Anne_Marie_2

Want to replace hedge round the garden with wooden fencing. It's not going to be practical to dig out without destroying the patio tiles, so will have to be cut down to ground level. Is there something that will kill the stumps off, as I certainly don't want it growing again? It would have to be animal friendly as I have a dog, and certainly don't want to poison wildlife. I am afraid that I have no idea what the hedge is, was put in before we moved in, it's certainly well established.

Justagardener

Autumn/winter is the best time to kill stumps. Use vitax SPK brushwood killer. There are others on the market but i know this one works for me. This is a liquid so it will soak into the tree stump, this way it won't harm animals. If you can, drill a few holes in the stump first with household drill then pour on the stump killer, the liquid in the drilled holes will get right down into the stumps. If you are worried about animals you could cover the stump with cling film until the stump killer has soaked in.

Anne_Marie_2

Many thanks Justagardener, much appreciated. The hedge will be coming down over the next couple of months, so timing is good.

Davesnave

You can use drill and fill with any of the glyphosate weedkillers as well at high strength. I did this with willow up to 30cm thick and scarcely saw any re-growth, and with willow, that's impressive!

There are no wildlife implications, although dead stumps obviously favour some species, and live trees, others.

Anne_Marie_2

Thanks Davesnave, will bear in mind when I go to look for stump killer, as unsure of the brands that are stocked here.

[Deleted User]

I can vouch for SBK, I used it to kill off a creeper that was climbing and strangling a fir tree in my garden, I filled a hole in the top of the stump in order to ensure that none of the SBK got onto the fir tree. That must be 10-15 years ago, and there's been no regrowth.

Davesnave

If I remember correctly, I mixed my weedkiller concentrate with olive oil or similar, and used it both in the holes I drilled and across the stumps immediately after felling. I then covered each one with black plastic sheet, weighed down with stones, to keep the rain off.

A couple of side shoots came up and that was it. A year or two later we pulled the stumps out with a digger and no willow has re-grown since. We re-planted with other trees.