Wednesday 13 April 2022
Deep Roots
Spent part of the afternoon sweating over the removal of a large cherry tree root in the garden. We'd had the tree felled and removed earlier in the year because it had become too big and its roots were lifting slabs in a nearby paved area.
I hacked the main root out eventually after much huffing and puffing to get at a thick side root which seemed to have grown straight down from the underside of the main root. The problem was how to get at the thing because it was quite well hidden. Eventually the crowbar shifted the big main root just enough for me to get at the problem root with a saw.
Many trees and shrubs seem to have at least one specially awkward root to make things difficult for gardeners. I think they grow them deliberately. Gaia is not our friend.
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8 comments:
Had a tree root removed, it looked like an alien. Or the Psammead from Five Children and It.
Drill holes in stump, fill holes with Ammonium Suphamate, cover stump with polythene bag, leave a few years, stump will rot away and can be dug out.
You made the mistake of discussing the tree being a problem within its hearing. As soon as they know their time is up, they send out the problem root as a means of getting back at you.
Sackers - perhaps they are aliens, hiding under our trees like the Psammead hiding under the sand. Could be a spooky story there.
djc - thanks I may try that. At the moment I only need to remove that one big root to level some slabs, but rotting the stump away would be useful.
Sam - it's a mistake I often make, discussing tree problems within their hearing. Even in winter when I think they are hibernating, they still listen and make their plans...
My mate was trying to remove a bush a few years back. I went round with a pickup truck and an 8 tonne towing strap, which we promptly broke. Roots are bloody strong...
Bucko - they are bloody strong. A chap I know is planning to remove a stump with a block and tackle. Next time I see him I'll ask how it went.
From Evelyn Waugh's letters...
"Darling...
So No. 3 Cmdo were very anxious to be chums with Lord Glasgow so they offered to blow up an old tree stump for him and he was very grateful and he said don't spoil the plantation of young trees near it because that is the apple of my eye and they said no of course not we can blow a tree down so that it falls on a sixpence and Lord Glasgow said goodness you are clever and he asked them all to luncheon for the great explosion. So Col. Durnford-Slater D.S.O. said to his subaltern, have you put enough explosive in the tree. Yes sir, 75 lbs. Is that enough? Yes sir I worked it out by mathematics it is exactly right. Well better put a bit more. Very good sir.
And when Col. D. Slater D.S.O. had had his port he sent for the subaltern and said subaltern better put a bit more explosive in that tree. I don't want to disappoint Lord Glasgow. Very good sir.
Then they all went out to see the explosion and Col. D.S. D.S.O. said you will see that tree fall flat at just that angle where it will hurt no young trees and Lord Glasgow said goodness you are clever.
So soon they lit the fuse and waited for the explosion and presently the tree, instead of falling quietly sideways, rose 50 feet into the air taking with it half an acre of soil and the whole of the young plantation.
And the subaltern said Sir I made a mistake, it should have been 7.5 lbs not 75.
Lord Glasgow was so upset he walked in dead silence back to his castle and when they came to the turn of the drive in sight of his castle what should they find but that every pane of glass in the building was broken.
So Lord Glasgow gave a little cry and ran to hide his emotion in the lavatory and there when he pulled the plug the entire ceiling, loosened by the explosion, fell on his head.
This is quite true."
Sackers - years ago I knew a chap who used gelignite to remove tree stumps for farmers. From what he said he liked to send them up into the air, but not to that extent.
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