Gardening advice :)

[A.N.T]

We've got 15 odd 1.5-8" tree stumps to remove from the border of our driveway so we can put fencing in, tried digging one out today and it was a proper nightmare, spent 2 hours digging away the dirt and cutting the roots with axes and spades but didn't really get anywhere, the problem is there are so many stumps in close proximity to one another, its hard to get access to them to dig them out.

Anyone tackled a job like this before that can give some tips would be greatly appreciated, been thinking to save on time and blisters, that hiring someone with a stump grinder maybe the way to go, I would rather do it myself but if there isn't a realistic way of doing it in a few days then hiring someone might be the best option.

[musomaniac]

dynamite works a treat :playful:

[pgkevet]

If you're only talking about trees upto 8inches diameter then that's quite small..really shouldn't have been an issue to get the roots out at all unless there's something you fail to mention/like council paving on one side. Cutting roots with an ax can be a pain if the soil under is loose... the axe hits an effective spring rather than biting in. Best tool is a 'silky' [video=youtube;D7Q03iLcx00]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Q03iLcx00[/video]
The non-folding sort are cheaper.. really need an arborist shop local to go fetch or mail-order fast.. [url=http://www.frjonesandson.co.uk/?s=silky&submit=Search]silky « Search Results « | F R Jones and Son[/url]
FR jones have huge stocks and fast shipping but North London.
Watch yourself with a silky..*really* sharp... it'd go through the full 8" tree quicker than an axe.
Problem trees you dig down, place a board and use a low bottle jack.. or these little ones you just rip out with the tractor <g>

And this is the other way: [url=http://monologues.co.uk/Sketches/The_Hunt.htm]The Hunt... Blaster Bates[/url]

[Mikej]

I got a local "stump-buster" in - he did th ewhole lot in my garden in about an hour and a half for £180-ish

[Adrian]

This is how i done mine....[ATTACH=CONFIG]55731[/ATTACH] i only had a small gate to get through ! :patrioteng:

[A.N.T]

[QUOTE=pgkevet;979746]If you're only talking about trees upto 8inches diameter then that's quite small..really shouldn't have been an issue to get the roots out at all unless there's something you fail to mention/like council paving on one side. Cutting roots with an ax can be a pain if the soil under is loose... the axe hits an effective spring rather than biting in. Best tool is a 'silky' [video=youtube;D7Q03iLcx00]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Q03iLcx00[/video]
The non-folding sort are cheaper.. really need an arborist shop local to go fetch or mail-order fast.. [URL="http://www.frjonesandson.co.uk/?s=silky&submit=Search"]silky « Search Results « | F R Jones and Son[/URL]
FR jones have huge stocks and fast shipping but North London.
Watch yourself with a silky..*really* sharp... it'd go through the full 8" tree quicker than an axe.
Problem trees you dig down, place a board and use a low bottle jack.. or these little ones you just rip out with the tractor <g>

And this is the other way: [URL="http://monologues.co.uk/Sketches/The_Hunt.htm"]The Hunt... Blaster Bates[/URL][/QUOTE]

Our driveway is tarmac'd and the neighbours driveway has a wood border, we have about 2 ft of soil with the trees in the middle but there are so many roots from all the vines and s**t growing around the trees which makes more difficult.

[A.N.T]

Its not cutting the trees thats a problem as we've got a 20" chainsaw :) Just the root ball and stump thats the pig

[A.N.T]

[QUOTE=musomaniac;979741]dynamite works a treat :playful:[/QUOTE]

I did consider it :P but we like having windows in our house :))

[tourerjim]

No easy answer, ether its a machine job or blisters

[Liam B.]

When we removed a dead tree with just under a meter stump we covered it and left it for a few weeks then burnt it.
Worked a treat!
Liam

[WildWake]

I'd recommend a Grafting spade, it can be used to cut though the roots and dig underneath the root ball, then used to cut the main stem under the root ball..
The is no easy way, it is just keep going at it & sweating your balls off.
Start from one end and clear everything as you move along the border, that way when you look back you feel like you achieving something..
Best of luck with it, I would pop round and do it for you,, but I'm washing my hair that day..:anonymous:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]55739[/ATTACH]

[A.N.T]

If there wasn't so many to be remooved in such a short space of time I would drill them and pout pottasium nitrate into the holes and let it kill them but haven't got 4-6 weeks, spoke to a guy last night with a root grinder he estimates £150 to do the lot so that looks like the plan now, still got plenty to be getting on with, the new shed will be arriving in a couple of days, got plenty of wood to burn and 6 sacks of vines, leaves and other c$$p to get rid of. Not used to all this hard graft anymore lol

Thanks for the advice guys

[pgkevet]

[QUOTE=A.N.T;979808]Our driveway is tarmac'd and the neighbours driveway has a wood border, we have about 2 ft of soil with the trees in the middle but there are so many roots from all the vines and s**t growing around the trees which makes more difficult.[/QUOTE]

Any decent machinery is going to rip up the surrounds..even a mini-digger and narrow bucket when it pulls the roots. In a confined space like that it's manual. As 'Wildwake' says.. start at one end and trench the whole lot out.. a silky and a mattock and soem sweat.