Tree Removal

A treated stump

Sometimes you just have to take drastic action in the garden. 

   

I know I usually spend all of my time trying to spare things in the garden; I’ll even trip up trying to avoid stepping on an ant. But there has come a time when one of the neighbours many self-set ash tree just had to go. 

The trunk of the tree over the years has undermined one of the walls of our garage and has started to push the blocks inwards, cracking the joints. A builder assessed the damage it was doing and labelled it as ‘critical’ it’s not the first time attempt with the tree. Four years ago the main trunk was cut down but because it wasn’t killed off, the side shoots shot up with a vengeance as ash trees actually like being coppiced. These offshoots were again pushing at the garage foundations and are too close and too large for us to dig them out. 

This time, all of the growth has been cut back and plugs have been inserted into drilled holes in the tree. These plugs contain glyphosate mainly so I had to look away as the tree surgeon put them into place. He topped it all off with a bit of tarry looking liquid just for luck. 

These types of plugs are becoming very popular now for tree control and it’s claimed they are less harmful to the environment that some of the more ‘natural’ methods. These can include pouring salt into holes, adding the much overused Epsom salts to all the cracks and crevices, pouring bleach over the stump and the one we see more than any other, a few buckets full of diesel poured everywhere.

Trees can be dealt with either with the foliage in place with sprays, which can cause problems, especially when the wind blows. 

There are some that claim if you use paving right up to the trunk this will kill the tree. Copper or brass nails are sometimes suggested but I have never actually seen that work. It’s a favourite suggestion from people who want to kill a neighbour’s tree without the neighbours knowing. A bit sneaky and thankfully the neighbour and I worked closely together in a friendly manner when this ash tree was taken down. Removing the bark around the diameter of the tree can kill them too so it’s important to keep the strimmer away from young trees in the garden as the thin bark can easily be damaged.

The whole process of removing the tree wasn’t an enjoyable one and to spare me going into more details about how we can kill them off I thought as a mark of respect I would quote the poem by Gieve Patel, which highlights the lengths a tree will go to to survive, after all, ash trees can live to 400 years old. Hopefully in the near future I will be planting a few more trees to offset the loss.

On killing a tree

It takes much time to kill a tree,

Not a simple jab of the knife

Will do it. It has grown

Slowly consuming the earth,

Rising out of it, feeding

Upon its crust, absorbing

Years of sunlight, air, water,

And out of its leprous hide

Sprouting leaves.

So hack and chop

But this alone won’t do it.

Not so much pain will do it.

The bleeding bark will heal

And from close to the ground

Will rise curled green twigs,

Miniature boughs

Which if unchecked will expand again

To former size.

No,

The root is to be pulled out —

Out of the anchoring earth;

It is to be roped, tied,

And pulled out — snapped out

Or pulled out entirely,

Out from the earth-cave,

And the strength of the tree exposed

The source, white and wet,

The most sensitive, hidden

For years inside the earth.

Then the matter

Of scorching and choking

In sun and air,

Browning, hardening,

Twisting, withering,

And then it is done.