Privet out!

[DeeBee]

Has anyone any advice about removing a privet hedge. We are keeping one of them for the birds but the other is going to give us back about a metre of extra width for 20 metres down the garden.

OH went a little bonkers today, bought a chainsaw from Lidl and chopped the lot down to stumps.
Do they have tap roots/balls/both. We intend to be sowing and growing within three months so don't want to be adding any chemicals. Just brute force and ignorance, but in what order? We have lots of both!

Suggestions oh knowledgeable guardians of the lottie ::)

[DeeBee]

[ipt8]

As its cut off dig it out. If its tough you need a mattock which is similar to a pick but better for this job. 8)

[DeeBee]

Cheers ipt8 ;)

[Paulines7]

We tried to get rid of two of our privet hedges but they keep growing back.  We got as many roots out as we could, using a pick axe.   We have cut down two 20ft lengths of it but still have 100 metres or so all the way down the drive.   :(
Good luck DeeBee.

[djbrenton]

It depends where the hedges are. The quickest way is to dig a trench on one side of the hedge then rip the hedge out with a tow rope and a car. I've removed a lot of hedge in short order that way.

On another note, we had to remove an apple tree once when extending the car park at the allotments. It's quite amusing watching a JCB gently grab the top then pluck it out of the ground like a weed.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Dig the stumps out, otherwise they just go on shooting. There was a stray in the back garden when we moved to Cornwall; it took a couple of years and a good bit of weedkiller before it finally gave up.

[DeeBee]

Thanks guys - dearly beloved has been wielding a mattock for five hours and is making progress! Aiming to get them all out by the weekend! :o

[ipt8]

If you get any regrowth as someone else mentioned dab it with Roundup. Oh and if you have a very long distance just cut ut as low as you can and spray the stumps imediately with Roundup before the cells seal with sap.