Removing an apple tree and stump

I have a fairly poor quality apple tree in my garden where I’ve only lived since January.

It growing at an angle and doesn’t look like its been maintained very well, the fruit doesn’t look greta and quite a bit of it has fungal infection, its also been planted in the middle of the lawn.

I’m thinking of removing it and turfing over whats remaining after seeing what the harvest is like. Am I best off pouring Tree killing agents and leaving it over winter, or giving it a dig around now? From what I can see I need to cut the roots and then remove the stump using a large crowbar. Will this ensure it never grows back?

I know a stump-cutter is best bet but at over £100 I’m a bit tight. I guess I only have to dig down about 6 inches or so.

Its a tree not a weed. Chop the top off and it will never grow back, it’ll be dead.

Depending on how big the stump is you might be digging a little more than 6″! Have you ever seen a tree before? I thought they did this sort of stuff in school 😆

Thanks Stato, if you do cut the top off the stored energy in the roots means it continues to grow. Didn’t they teach that at your school 😀

I’m hoping I only need to clear 6″ of stump as thats the only amount of topsoil needed for the turf. If I can kill the root off with chemicals all I need to worry about is the amount of soil needed to support the lawn.

I chopped an old apple tree down, severed the roots all around and cut a v in the remaining stump some 8″ underground. It hasn’t grown back. Cost £0.

What does cutting the V do, does it help to kill it off?

or

just go with the saw,spade and crowbar approach 🙂

Do a proper job and dig it out. You won’t be able to cut it below ground level unless it is small (in which case it will be easy to remove as well).

Firstly leave some trunk, around 6′. You can use this for leverage later. Now dig a trench around the base chopping every root you find. The best tool for this is a cheap sabre saw. Keep digging and chopping further down than you think. Once you are nearly there either get a resonant wobble in the trunk or tie a truck/winch to it. You might need to reach under the stump to cut a few more roots. They are mighty strong in tension.

This is a perfect opportunity to buy a mattock. Use it to dig out as nick suggests, taking off roots as you find them.

Tell the Israeli’s its a school, but you just saw somebody shifty and muslamic in the grounds, then run for cover

Don’t cut it down – attach a Land Rover to it and drive it away. Very satisfying.

First things first. Build a smoker.

Any fruit orchard farms nearby? They’ll grub out a complete orchard every few years. Ten second job with a grubbing machine to grab the trunk, twist, and pull the tree and roots out in one.

Its a bad yr for apples. you might find you’ll get loads next yr if you leave it. also the bees and insects like apple trees and the birds like bees and insects.

Don’t kill it, embrace it, make a feature out of it. So what if it’s leaning… we’re not all perfect… 😉

Don’t cut it down – attach a Land Rover to it and drive it away. Very satisfying.

Don’t follow this guy’s example re safely, the chain on his saw is so loose it’s dangling with daylight between it and the bar, shorts and deck shoes wouldn’t be my first choice either.

If its ot too big id set about the ground wround thr base with a mattock and axe. If its too big then yes hire a stumpgrinder, then offer the wood to someone for free if they cut it up and take it away.

As said before. Cut it down leaving a 2m stump. Dig all around.
Do not just cut through the roots but cut a 400mm section out. This enables you to get at roots underneath.
Work around and down then under until the stump wobbles. If you can get a block and tackle / winch on it to a bigger tree now winch it out.

I remove an 800mm dia stump this way in 2 hours, but I had some practice with the 40 leylandi before hand.

Ref the unimog guy. What a tool.

I must remember to get the wife to film more of the stuff I do in the garden. Just to make me look like a man…..

That tree was so rotten that the trunk just snapped off, there was no ground heave from the roots.

Seems a shame to give up on it too early. Wait until the winter, and get out with secateurs and a pruning saw, and cut away all of the dead wood from the branches. You might be surprised at how much it revives the tree. I have an Acer Palmatum that I bought for my mum years ago, and it was getting really thin and straggly looking, with not a lot of decent leaf. My dad would just attack it with shears, which wasn’t doing it much good, especially as he was doing it while it was in leaf, so I went at it once the leaves had fallen, and cut away every dead branch and twig I could find.
The next spring was a revelation, there was so much new leaf and new young stems growing the tree looked almost a third bigger!
Bearing in mind that the tree cost me twenty-five quid from a nursery in Newbury, and smaller trees than what it’s currently at cost from eight hundred to over a thousand pounds from Westonbirt Arbouretum’s shop, I’m rather glad I took the trouble.
If your tree produces decent fruit, it would be a shame to destroy it.