Piss-Elm Removal

Edith Upwards

I have a piss elm in my garden with one root DEEP into the ground, I need to know how to remove said root, I do not spend three hours a day coaxing pretty trees, corn, and potatoes out of this bed of infertile, barren rock just to have my neighbor's shit ruin my garden.(HE WATERS FOR NINE HOURS A DAY FFFFFF)

I spent an hour trying to pull that last root up out of the ground and even though I have taken a shower my herbicidal rage is not abated. It is at least five feet down, my budgetary limit is nineteen dollars.

That son of a bitch needs to die.

Honk

You are looking for the Help/Advice forum.

Elki

Moving this to H/A.

Figgy

I don't quite understand what you're saying.

The tree is in your garden and you want remove one of its roots that is 5 feet underneath it? How does your neighbour's watering habits relate to this?

I'd Fuck Chuck Lidell Up

how did a WHOLE TREE get into your garden without you noticing before it had time to get hold?

honestly the answer doesn't even really matter, either way you are going at this with a shovel and that's pretty much all there is to it

Figgy

A $19 dollar shovel.

Yeah, 5 feet down and you have no money to rent equipment from home depot that could make this much easier? Yeah.. shovel and an entire day of work.

Delzhand

I thought this topic would be funnier based on the title.

Does not deliver.

Anyways... I'm not clear on the details either. Is the tree in your garden or your neighbor's lawn with one root tunnelling into yours?

Casually Hardcore

Shovel, sweat, and be sure to wear gloves cause your soft weak city hands will be blistered without gloves.

I'd Fuck Chuck Lidell Up

ethugs4life wrote: »

Shovel, sweat, and be sure to wear gloves cause your soft weak city hands will be blistered without gloves.

please be sure to buy a sturdy, sharp spade shovel. i took a huge 4 foot diameter root out of the ground (bout 3 1/2 feet deep) and things really started to suck when i could no longer cut the roots by slamming the tip of the shovel into them after the first shovel broke

TL DR

If you go at the tree with a shovel, you'll just wear yourself out and kill the tree and piss off your neighbor. Using a saw to cut the root might give the tree a chance. If you don't care about killing it, you want a cutter mattock. Don't even try using the shovel in your garage, since you probably got it from Wal-Mart and it's just going to break.

Edith Upwards

I get all my shovels from IFA.

Was wondering if there was a quickly degrading herbicide I could use so as to not kill everything in my garden, I have the hole dug two feet(with my hands only) and would like some magical remedy that can be dropped into the hole and kill it, allowing me to just cut the root a foot down as opposed to pulling.

The damn root is as big as my fist two feet down.

Letarian

Glyphosate (Roundup) will do the job - just make sure to spray it directly onto the root into the hole, don't do it when it is windy (this will kill the rest of your garden). The plus to Roundup is that it is inactivated by soil very quickly, so anything you get on the soil around the root you don't need to worry about.

Tinuz

There are 'root poisons' (Google that). These poisons are applied to a stub (or directly to the root) and kill off the root system. Other plants generally do not suffer as this can only be applied to a stub.

How the stuff is called in your local gardening store, or which one is best I don't know, but yes, solutions exist and are readily available.

Tinuz

Letarian wrote: »

Glyphosate (Roundup) will do the job - just make sure to spray it directly onto the root into the hole, don't do it when it is windy (this will kill the rest of your garden). The plus to Roundup is that it is inactivated by soil very quickly, so anything you get on the soil around the root you don't need to worry about.

I suggest against roundup...it is not root specific, and as you say, if applied uncarefully it can take out the entire garden. There are better alternatives.

Arikado

There are various ways of killing a tree and none of them are fast and easy. However, what my dad did to kill a big spiny tree we had was cut it down to a trunk and then bore holes into the trunk with the drill using the long bits (8 inches I think). Then he filled the holes with creosote and some bleach. After a week or so, he was able to yank out most of the dead trunk by tying a rope around it and towing it out with the truck. Obviously, this last part probably won't be needed for your tree problem.

Edith Upwards

The tree appeared when I was away from my garden for a week, it was SMALL back then.

I think it may be growing from a cow's corpse.

Kakodaimonos

Tinuz wrote: »

There are 'root poisons' (Google that). These poisons are applied to a stub (or directly to the root) and kill off the root system. Other plants generally do not suffer as this can only be applied to a stub.

How the stuff is called in your local gardening store, or which one is best I don't know, but yes, solutions exist and are readily available.

This is the best way to get rid of the tree. It's also called "cut-stumping". Cut the tree down to a few inches above the ground and paint the herbicide on the exposed cut. Look for something that's a "Woody Plant Herbicide". That's going to be a non-selective herbicide, so any vegetation you get it on will die. If you spill it, you're going to have a bald spot in your yard. Should take only a few applications to kill it. This will kill the entire tree, so if you apply it to a sucker that's coming into your yard from your neighbors tree, you're going to kill the tree.

If you want to actually get the tree root out of your garden? Start digging and get a pickaxe. But if you kill the tree, you usually don't need to remove the root, since plants will grow around dead root systems and the dead tree will eventually just turn into compost.