Chopping down Conifers

[gregbbb]

Hi all

I need a bit of advice in the tree-felling department.

There are 10 Conifers (I think thats what they are) running the length of my garden which I would like to replace with a small fence to allow more sunlight into my garden.

I've just moved in and it looks like the trees were originally around 15ft tall. They have been chopped along the top by the previous owner prior to selling and are now about 8ft tall.

I plan to chop them down around the 3/4ft mark and use the height of the stumps to help me lever the buggers out.

Firstly, whats the best tool to chop them down? I would rather leave chainsaws alone. I can either hire a power tool or buy a decent saw (what type of saw though??).

Secondly, I reckon it would be better to remove the stumps altogether as I feel they will only cause problems when trying to erect a fence. Do conifers have a complex root system? Will removal be easy(ish)? Any surefire methods?

Any advice or pointers would be great.

Cheers

Edited: Added pics for Conifer confirmation.

 

[JohnD]

A Bow saw will do it. I imagine the trunks are in the region of 4 to 6 inches thick?

If you cut a "V" into one side, the tree will start to lean that way. Then you cut from the other side towards the "V" and the weight of the tree leaning will tend to open the cut, rather than coming down on the blade and jamming it. It will then tend to fall in the direction it is leaning, towards the "V"

p.s. if you try to lever them out their roots will probably pull up the fence/wall/path beside them in both gardens. You can dig and cut through the roots, rather a tedious job, or you could cut them off near the ground and it 20 years they will rot away.

 

[gregbbb]

A Bow saw will do it. I imagine the trunks are in the region of 4 to 6 inches thick?

If you cut a "V" into one side, the tree will start to lean that way. Then you cut from the other side towards the "V" and the weight of the tree leaning will tend to open the cut, rather than coming down on the blade and jamming it. It will then tend to fall in the direction it is leaning, towards the "V"

I knew I forgot to mention something. Yes, trunks are on average 6 inches thick.

A Bow saw eh? I can use one of them on my own? (visions of those huge 2-man bow saws)

 

[JohnD]

A Bow saw eh? I can use one of them on my own? (visions of those huge 2-man bow saws)

yes, it won't take you long. Wear gloves and a hat.

p.s. if you use a pair of loppers (not an axe) to trim off the branches and chop them up (or use a shredder) you will be surprised at how a big tree will fit into a couple of bins.

 

[Thermo]

and a long sleeve top as they can give you a rash

 

[gregbbb]

Thanks guys. OK, I'm fine with getting them down now. But any ideas on uprooting them?

 

[Northbeach]

I've just trimmed around 8 conifers in my front garden.
They stand around 30/40 foot high and I quite liked them; with this in mind I merely cut the branches off up to around 8/9 foot high - hey presto a mini redwood forest in my garden!
Can't you just cut them down to the size of a small fence anyhow, hedge cutting the brances into shape?

But yes - Bow Saw's are perfect for the job and far easier/less stressful than a chainsaw.
Look out for Bahco saws (21" or 24") - can pick them up for around £10-15.

...ahh, just read your last post...you're at the stage where you want to uproot them! Dig a foot or so around the base and use a spade to chop the smaller roots and your saw for the larger ones. You should be able to 'twizzle' the rootball out until it is unearthed.
Good luck.

 

[gregbbb]

Regarding using them as a fence...they are in a pretty bad way - not like how they look in the photo. That photo was prior to the seller chopping the tops off. Since then they look pretty poor (brown with no hitting them). Besides, the droppings from the tree make any soil underneath useless for growing any grass or plants (something to do with the acid in the tree???).

Northbeach, you make uprooting them sound so easy!? So these trees have more of a rootball than complex spreading root system?

 

[ajsdoc]

We had this problem - hired a guy to do it. He felled them and then used a machine to grind out the stumps. Reasonable sized machine though so you'd need access.

 

[gregbbb]

Update:

Used a bow saw to chop them down to stumps of approx. 3ft - pretty easy going - 12 trees in 4 hours. Will attempt to uproot one of them on my own and if it's a complete nightmare then I'll hire someone to come in with the stump grinder I think.

ajsdoc, how much did your fella charge?

Cheers

 

[Thermo]

hire a stump grinder, theyre easy to use, although a little hard work and you can hire them for about 50 a day

 

[gregbbb]

hire a stump grinder, theyre easy to use, although a little hard work and you can hire them for about 50 a day

They look pretty big! I've only got gated access at the back of my house. Do they come in smaller types - maybe that can be operated by hand (similar size to pneumatic drill)?

 

[Thermo]

you can normally wheel them through a standard gate opening, however if theres two of you, you can tip them on their side to get them through a narrower opening

 

[ajsdoc]

I was charged £12 per stump for the grinding (there were 17 of them!) I think the machine would have got through a standard gateway - I'm glad we had it done ready for planting straight away with no bother. Initially planned to leave the stumps and let them rot down but once trees were down was obvious job needed finishing properly.

 

[Nige F]

They are Leyland dei........Satan`s trees I hired a self drive mini-digger to grub the roots out of mine ...`twas good fun and loaded the skip with it too...some are small for acess thru gates