trees,getting rid of

Did I hear of this or did I just dream it,,If bark is cut all the way round the trunk and a gap left does this kill the tree and if so what would be the effect on the roots.?Would the roots die as well? Thanks for any advice on this

tab

Reply to
Tab
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The "live" part of a normal tree is the bark. That's where most of the activity of the tree takes place and to ring the tree completely will be the equivalent of cutting a humans throat. Instant death.

Reply to
EricP

Not quite *INSTANT* death, but it will certainly kill it - now for it to rot and fall down on your " 'ead guv'nor", will take rather longer - you're looking at several years.

Brian G

Reply to
Brian G

Thanks for advice.My problem is that I have two trees close to my house and drains and I would like to cut them down but a certain lady will not hear of it so I may have to resort to desperate measures.Was thinking that if the leaves started curling up she may agree with me.;-)

Reply to
Tab

Tab,

Seriously here - if you are on clay-type soil, be careful about resorting to 'desperate measures'.

If you 'kill' or cut them down 'quickly', then because the trees are not taking up large quantities of ground water, this will expand the clay soil and cause 'ground-heave' which could severely damage the house foundations.

If this is the case, just lop them down a bit at the time over several seasons - the upshot of this is that SWMBO may not notice the long term 'disappearing act' - especially if you can do the dirty deed whilst she was out of the way :-)

The 'good-news' is that if the trees are fairly small and not of something like the dreaded Weeping Willow, then you should be ok.

As a matter of interest, I also have a SWMBO who loves trees and I fully understand the problem you have!

Brian G

Reply to
Brian G

Sodium chlorate AKA weed killer and you can buy it at the pound shop. Make the mix up when she is not in and it is wet on the ground, pour the whole mixture against the root of the tree and leaves will turn brown next month.

Adam

Reply to
ARWadsworth

Would it not be easier to dispose of a "certain lady"...? Trim off her bark perhaps...?

Reply to
Martin

... negotiate rather than taking undemocratic, unilateral action?

Perhaps plant replacement trees further from the house? Or perhaps help plant trees to replace the ones you want to cut down?

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I have had similar problems in that my tiny garden seems to have been planted by idiots who gave no thought to the ultimate size that everything would grow to. I've already cut down at least five trees / oversize bushes, and in mid summer it still gets claustrophobic and barely enough light reaches ground level. (I've been helping the Woodland Trust buy land for new woods for a number of years, so hopefully I've many times more than negated this part of my ecological footprint)

I would also second the poster who warned about changing the status quo.

Trees evaporate huge, significant quantities of water, and if these are biggish then changing the status quo by cutting them down might change the whole hydrology of the soil near your house, and you might indeed cause the ground to heave over a number of years, and/or create damp problems. Only cut them down if they are already obviously damaging the house, and even then I would recommend taking expert advice beforehand.

Leaves are a particular problem if your house is old enough to have exterior drains and gullies. You need to:

1) Make covers for them, so that leaves can't get into them so easily in the first place. We made them out of exterior ply offcuts, etc, and creosoted them (but I think creosote has been unavailable for some years as it was found to be carcinogenic, use whatever the modern equivalent is). You'll need a jigsaw to cut closely around where the drain pipes go through, and they need to be heavy enough to avoid being blown off, or perhaps weigh them down with a brick or some such. Clear the gullies and drains out completely before finally putting the covers in place. 2) I've seen balls of small mesh chicken wire sitting in gutters at the top of downpipes to help stop leaves getting into the downpipes and gullies from the guttering, but I would imagine there's also the possibility of the chicken wire gradually working into the downpipe, particularly as it rusts and weakens, and causing an even worse problem. Perhaps worth a try if you can guarantee that they'll stay in place - better to have an overflowing gutter full of leaves that you can remove easily (a trowel is the ideal shape) than a blocked downpipe that you have to dismantle to clear, particularly if it's an old-fashioned cast one. 3) If you can without causing a lot of damage to the trees, selectively prune branches that are causing particular problems by, say, touching the house and causing damp, or dropping a lot of leaves into a critical piece of guttering. 4) Annually, when all the leaves are off the trees at the end of Autumn, make a point of checking all the guttering (including that chicken wire is not getting too rusty to able to resist going into the down pipes) and gullies. Pay particular attention to lead gullies between two rooves - access to these can often be difficult, so they get overlooked, and can be a common source of severe problems (particularly in old neglected buildings, as you will recall if you have watched any of the Restoration series) 5) Don't park you car underneath them, or you'll be visiting the car wash frequently! And don't pitch a tent underneath trees!
Reply to
Java Jive

Hi

A couple of things - if the trees are not on your land thats criminal damage ..... you have been warned!!! If they are on public land and are causing an issue with drains etc you can get the council to remove them as they will be responsible.

The second is that if there are Tree Protection Orders on them OR you live in a conservation area then you need special permission to touch them.

Ben

Reply to
ben

They are in my garden.I planted them 40years ago.SWMBO has put a protection order on them but if they look as though they have died of natural causes there is not much she can do about it.

Tab

Reply to
Tab

sounds dodgy to me

Reply to
Phil

And if someone sees you causing the damage that kills them, what happens?

Reply to
Simon Finnigan

As I said they are my trees in my garden so it is only my wife apart from me that has any say in what happens to them.

Reply to
Tab

You get an ASBO and free days out.

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Do the damage when no one is looking FFS.

Adam

Reply to
ARWadsworth

:-) I like it.Strange though how things happen.My drain was blocked today.nothing to do with the trees,and cleared by Dynarod staff.I asked the man in charge if he thought the trees would cause a problem in future and he does not think so,therefore the trees have got a reprieve for the time being and I will blame him if I get a blockage Lol

Tab

Reply to
Tab

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