Allotments 4 All

Dug my first bed yesterday, hurrah!

The second one, of course, is proving to be a bit tougher & has a sapling trunk in it where the council lopped off the main bit. It's about 2" in diameter. I'm aiming to dig down & out as far as I can & saw the roots off at the furthest point I can.

Does anyone know if this will this leave me with any problems? I'm going to build raised beds so there should be a good couple of feet plus of earth on top of the remaining roots as well as some thick cardboard about a foot or so down.

Thanks, John

what tree is it? it might depend on what variety (and hence how vigorous) it is.

my dad has just cleared a number of fruit trees the same way - taking out as much as possible from the stump, then covering over it with lots of soil. they 'should' rot away, but.....

Haven't got a clue what type it is Svea.... no foliage & bark nothing special. Must have grown wild. John

Have a look at this:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles1102/tree_stumps.asp

The ones I've got out, I've dug/cut out what I could, then covered the remaining roots with that Root Out gel. Over the years, seems to have worked.

Same here, Alisha, only I use the Root Out crystals on the remaining ends of the cut branches/ stalks, secured with clingfilm - a bit finicky to do, but very effective, and PDQ too. Highly recommend it.

Thanks for the advice.....

I managed to catch one of the council groundsmen to ask him about where to get manure delivered from. He said the magic words 'Oh, you've got a couple of tree stumps in your patch haven't you, I'll get the digger to whip them out'... & within an hour I was stumpless!

Unfortunately the digger went on to clear about 5 small trees that were in the corner of the plot & had been one of the reasons I'd picked it... visions of wild birds feeding out of my hand. However, I've now reconciled myself to this with the thought that I can plant a couple of fruit trees to replace.

I have heard that banging a few copper nails into tree stumps kills it off, dont know how effective it is !

To answer the original question...No, tree roots don't grow.

They can produce suckers, depending on the species. Elms produce them all over the place. Most will just quietly rot away though.