Killing a tree

I need to kill a large tree that is growing outside my house.The council have addmited that they planted the wrong sort of tree back in 1970,but say that it is not their policy to chop down healty trees.The fucking thing has already lifted the paving slabs and put a crack in my front garden wall.

do it sooner rather than later.

it may cause Subsidence or Heave to the property. Roots can cause untold damage.

(work hat on)

Thought The Cure were becoming environmentally unfriendly for a second!

Under no circumstances should you ring the offending tree. Doing this will make the tree become unsafe and then the council will have to come and remove it.

All you do is cut a few cm strip of the bark all the way around it's trunk. It doesn't matter where it is, it just has to be a complete circle (a 'ring').

No ringing trees kids, it's bad for them

You could also contact a Tree Surgeon to prune the tree, this will preserve the tree but prevent further growth. Of course you'll still have to re-flag, but it is better to do this now than to let it continue where it has the potential to cause serious damage to your property.

Removing the tree completely can cause problems in itself, the ground beneath your property is balanced at present and the removal of the tree can cause heave to your property due to the sudden excess of water in the soil as the tree will no longer be 'drinking'.

The important bit of Jem's excellent info, that she left out, is that trees are almost symetrical, the roots do not generally grow out much beyond the length of branches, so cutting it back will deter it from sending roots out further afield.

Surely if the council have admitted a mistake, they are liable for any damage the bugger does?

If you have to have a professional remove the tree. Make sure they are insured and bonded in case the bugger falls on your house. Sure it is tempting to ring it or have a friend do it. But things like this you should not mess around with. Plant two trees to replace it.

Where the hell did everyone get their advice on tree cutting??? First, cutting the tree depends on it's hieght and relation to property. If it is tall or close to property it will need to be "dissected" from the top up in small bits. If you have a good direction to cut where the tree can fall and not hit anything it is easy to control it's fall. Cut a "triangle" section on the side you want it to fall, a good 1/3 into the tree trunk. Then on the opposite side start cutting straight into the tree. as soon as the tree starts to fall from gravity, move away from the tree (be careful as the tree will "kick" it's trunk outwards, and can cause serious damage).
As for the trunk there are a couple methods. You can drill holes into it and drop an acid that kills the roots and easy to pull out later. You can have it pulled out, but takes a strong vehicle and depends on the roots.

Simply pruning will only make it grow more. What you see uptop in the branches is similar to the roots, unless it has been pruned alot and then there will be more roots than branches.

Getting rid of the tree is easy, it's getting rid of the lower trunk and roots that is hard.

JHC

Get a couple of slabs of Stella in and me, Rocket and Mike will come round. We'll have it out in no time.

We'll chop it all up and take it away in Mike's Volvo

use Diesel

Consult these guys:

http://www.isa-arbor.com/home.aspx

International Society of Aboriculture, quite literally the international experts.

I could give you advice on tree health, or if you had a forest, some management advice. The single urban forestry course I took in college really won't help, we learned how to care for trees, not kill them.

EdelBrock wrote: Where the hell did everyone get their advice on tree cutting???

I'm a lumberjack actually

Missy Jem wrote:

EdelBrock wrote: Where the hell did everyone get their advice on tree cutting???

I'm a lumberjack actually

A bit too much scotch last night. Not to rub it in, since you can't drink

JHC

No i was being silly, but I actually covered this as part of my Degree studies.

Missy Jem wrote: No i was being silly, but I actually covered this as part of my Degree studies.

Why the waterlogging of the soil? I understand the tree might be not be picking up the water, but I have never noticed this in the many trees (and a couple forests) I've cut down. Please explain. Interested.

JHC

In this Country we have a lot of clay in our soil. If you chop down a tree, that tree is no longer 'drinking' the water in the ground. When clay gets wet or dries out it expands or shrinks and this can have a devastating effect on foundations of homes and can cause severe cracking in walls.

New knowledge. Thanks, that's good to know. Appreciate good knowledge.

JHC

Of course, I COULD be making it all up