I do a bit of gardening for a chap down the road - he does the plants
and the actual _garden_, while I do all the donkeywork for him.

We decided that a sycamore which is growing in the hedge needs to be got
rid of. It's a self-sown seedling of some years ago, 8" or 9" diameter
at the base, and has been summarily beheaded twice a year when the hedge
gets cut, so it's only about 7' tall (i.e. hedge height).

He wants me to get rid of it, so that he can put a proper tree in its
place, which will be nurtured -- this will be a cherry.

So, I intend to cut it off at the base, and then poison the stump by
drilling holes around it and lacing them with glyphosate (I have done
this successfully several times by now).

My question: how far from this stump should we look to plant the new
(bare root) tree, in order for it to be safe from the glyphosate? Or is
that not an issue?


The hedge is very deep (3 or 4 feet), and in this area is absolutely
shot through with very well established ivy, which I intend to get rid
of also, as best as I can, and *if* there is enough hedge left (it's
holly and hawthorn in this section), to warrant clearing it away.

Any comments please?
TIA
John

On 25/11/2020 21:53, Another John wrote:
I do a bit of gardening for a chap down the road - he does the plants
and the actual _garden_, while I do all the donkeywork for him.

We decided that a sycamore which is growing in the hedge needs to be got
rid of. It's a self-sown seedling of some years ago, 8" or 9" diameter
at the base, and has been summarily beheaded twice a year when the hedge
gets cut, so it's only about 7' tall (i.e. hedge height).

He wants me to get rid of it, so that he can put a proper tree in its
place, which will be nurtured -- this will be a cherry.

So, I intend to cut it off at the base, and then poison the stump by
drilling holes around it and lacing them with glyphosate (I have done
this successfully several times by now).

My question: how far from this stump should we look to plant the new
(bare root) tree, in order for it to be safe from the glyphosate? Or is
that not an issue?


The hedge is very deep (3 or 4 feet), and in this area is absolutely
shot through with very well established ivy, which I intend to get rid
of also, as best as I can, and *if* there is enough hedge left (it's
holly and hawthorn in this section), to warrant clearing it away.

Any comments please?
TIA
John

The glyphosate will do no harm to anything planted after the sycamore
has died. Do you intend to remove the sycamore stump after it has died?
If not, it might attract fungal attack. Whether or not that would affect
the cherry or anything else already growing in the hedge is difficult to
say, but it is unlikely to have a major effect.

--

Jeff

On 26 Nov 2020 10:56, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

The glyphosate will do no harm to anything planted after the sycamore
has died. Do you intend to remove the sycamore stump after it has
died?
If not, it might attract fungal attack. Whether or not that would
affect
the cherry or anything else already growing in the hedge is difficult
to
say, but it is unlikely to have a major effect.

It WILL be attacked and eventually broken down by saprophytic fungi,
but I agree what you say - very few of those harm living plants,
and planting close to a decaying stump is rarely a problem.

Ivy will have to be removed by hand, but is shallow-rooted.


My experience with Ivy is that it's a lot easier to get rid of than you
think especially if it's only actually growing from a few places. Dig
down a few inches and cut it through, it will die and there are no
dormant buds below ground to resprout.

--
Regards.
Bob Hobden

In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

The glyphosate will do no harm to anything planted after the sycamore
has died. Do you intend to remove the sycamore stump after it has died?
If not, it might attract fungal attack. Whether or not that would affect
the cherry or anything else already growing in the hedge is difficult to
say, but it is unlikely to have a major effect.


Thanks Jeff - reassuring.

No, I don't intend to try and remove it -- if I thought it would come
easy, I wouldn't be thinking about the glyphosate route. Removing
stumps, I have found [especially in recent years] is the hardest work in
the garden :-(

I am, however, going to have a good go at shoving it back and forth
before cutting it right down. It's currently about 6' tall, which is a
good lever to use, if it wobbles a bit with a good shove!

Cheers
John

On 26/11/2020 17:38, Bob Hobden wrote:
On 26 Nov 2020 10:56, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

The glyphosate will do no harm to anything planted after the sycamore
has died. Do you intend to remove the sycamore stump after it has
died?
If not, it might attract fungal attack. Whether or not that would
affect
the cherry or anything else already growing in the hedge is difficult
to
say, but it is unlikely to have a major effect.

Putting a new full size tree into a hedge might be tricky since it will
have to fight the established hedge for resources. Seedlings that happen
to occur deep in the hedge seem to do better. I have some holly that has
appeared in mine and I am slowly allowing it to replace a chunk.

It is already a multispecies hedge with roughly 3m sections of all of
one species but I have allowed wild roses and some ivy in as well.

It WILL be attacked and eventually broken down by saprophytic fungi,
but I agree what you say - very few of those harm living plants,
and planting close to a decaying stump is rarely a problem.

Drilling the stump and hitting it with root out ammonium sulphamate
might be more effective than glyphosate which need to hit leaves.

Ivy will have to be removed by hand, but is shallow-rooted.

My experience with Ivy is that it's a lot easier to get rid of than you
think especially if it's only actually growing from a few places. Dig
down a few inches and cut it through, it will die and there are no
dormant buds below ground to resprout.

You can often just rip the tops off and then hit it with brushwood
killer on the soft new spring regrowth if you want rid of it. I tend to
leave some to grow for the winter berries that bring in the birds.

I have found bindweed in hedges impossible to eliminate...

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 26/11/2020 21:38, Another John wrote:
In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

The glyphosate will do no harm to anything planted after the sycamore
has died. Do you intend to remove the sycamore stump after it has died?
If not, it might attract fungal attack. Whether or not that would affect
the cherry or anything else already growing in the hedge is difficult to
say, but it is unlikely to have a major effect.


Thanks Jeff - reassuring.

No, I don't intend to try and remove it -- if I thought it would come
easy, I wouldn't be thinking about the glyphosate route. Removing
stumps, I have found [especially in recent years] is the hardest work in
the garden :-(

Not with a mini digger!

I am, however, going to have a good go at shoving it back and forth
before cutting it right down. It's currently about 6' tall, which is a
good lever to use, if it wobbles a bit with a good shove!


Seriously consider hiring a digger for a day - £150 maybe top price.
Even if access is limited you can

- trench down each side
- and if necessary cut any lateral roots with a chainsaw or handsaw or
hatchet or even a hand axe.
- with luck trench in front of it as well.
- then usually it can be lifted out snapping what laterals are left, or
if it is tall, pulled over from the top. Then the remaining roots are
exposed and can be cut.
- finally the soil levels can me made good with the digger using the
blade as a grader.
- the digger can be used to cart the stump away to the bonfire too
- and driving a mini digger is FUN.


Cheers
John



--
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on
its shoes.

In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Seriously consider hiring a digger for a day - £150 maybe top price.
Even if access is limited you can

- trench down each side
- and if necessary cut any lateral roots with a chainsaw or handsaw or
hatchet or even a hand axe.
- with luck trench in front of it as well.
- then usually it can be lifted out snapping what laterals are left, or
if it is tall, pulled over from the top. Then the remaining roots are
exposed and can be cut.
- finally the soil levels can me made good with the digger using the
blade as a grader.
- the digger can be used to cart the stump away to the bonfire too
- and driving a mini digger is FUN.

Thanks TNP! I won't be doing that, mainly because the hedge is between
a shed in the garden, and a narrow country (but busy!) lane, so it won't
fit. But I'd need the hedge to be in the middle of the neighbouring
field, for an hour or two's cack-handed experimentation, never having
driven any such machine before.

But thanks for the entertainment! I can almost see you, tearing around
on your toy-for-day! Thumbs-up!

John

On 28/11/2020 13:58, Another John wrote:
In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Seriously consider hiring a digger for a day - £150 maybe top price.
Even if access is limited you can

- trench down each side
- and if necessary cut any lateral roots with a chainsaw or handsaw or
hatchet or even a hand axe.
- with luck trench in front of it as well.
- then usually it can be lifted out snapping what laterals are left, or
if it is tall, pulled over from the top. Then the remaining roots are
exposed and can be cut.
- finally the soil levels can me made good with the digger using the
blade as a grader.
- the digger can be used to cart the stump away to the bonfire too
- and driving a mini digger is FUN.

Thanks TNP! I won't be doing that, mainly because the hedge is between
a shed in the garden, and a narrow country (but busy!) lane, so it won't
fit. But I'd need the hedge to be in the middle of the neighbouring
field, for an hour or two's cack-handed experimentation, never having
driven any such machine before.

Takes nearly 5 minutes to master one...


But thanks for the entertainment! I can almost see you, tearing around
on your toy-for-day! Thumbs-up!

The ultimate experience apart from tipping one over was on a 3 tonner
loading a dump truck with rubble, sitting on top of the pile.... I
picked up a huge chunk of masonry, stretched the arm out to drop it over
the dump truck, and the whole thing started to topple.
I dropped it in a hurry from 6 feet up into the dumper my ( now ex) was
driving. Surprised is an understatement!


John



--
"And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch".

Gospel of St. Mathew 15:14