Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: BridgeRunner on March 20, 2010, 10:44:14 PM
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Got the go-ahead from the landlords/in-laws to take out the hideous yew bushes in front.
The fun way is probably to chain it to a truck and pull, but I don't have a truck. Might work with the car. Might be safer for the foundation to just cut 'em down and hack up the stumps.
Advice?
For the record, I will be building some raised beds in the area, so I don't need to get the area all that root-free.
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Pluck Yew, Bridgewater. Pluck Yew.
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Is napalm out of the question?
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if pulling them out i would cut the roots first. [tinfoil] round up first might make it easier going(if it will kill them[i don't know that it will =|]), if there's nothing you don't want rid of near them. =D
hmm, on second thought. safe backdrop? as in can you shoot them out. [popcorn] might be a good road trip. =D i'll bring the ammo. >:D
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Cut them down to a stump. If you want to reuse that area, dig up most of the roots then yank out the stump. Or just dig them out, but that will take about an hour per bush if they are big.
If you dont want to use the area this year, leave the stumps. They wont grow back.
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I'm going to say it before anyone else.
Detcord.
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Advice?
Drill, black powder, safety fuse.
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My father planted several yews along the front of our house when I was a sprout. Many years later, after he died, my brother and I were asked by our mother to remove them. OMG! Those who advocate dynamite or C4 are the people you NEED to listen to. The roots are killers. By all means, cut the bushes down to the stump(s) first. Then dig out around the roots, loosen things up as much as possible, and then (and ONLY then) hook up and yank them out.
Do you folks own and drive a "car"? If so, forget yanking yews. Find somebody with at least a 3/4 ton pickup and four-wheel drive. If the engine happens to be a turbo diesel, so much the better.
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Do you folks own and drive a "car"? If so, forget yanking yews. Find somebody with at least a 3/4 ton pickup and four-wheel drive. If the engine happens to be a turbo diesel, so much the better.
Oh yew of little faith. All you need is inertia. 100ft of chain and 75 ft of head start ought to do. =D When I was pulling stumps with my F-150 I was at 15-20mph when the chain went taut. Something was going to move. Only broke the chain once, figured there was no way the chain could break the truck. I've also been party to a little GMC Jimmy un-sticking a 45,000 GVW Mack truck. Amazing what happens when 150 feet of nylon web sling goes taut. But in yew case, det cord sounds like more fun.
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FWIW, with proper safety distances, using detcord for that purpose is permissible according to the BATFE. Just sayin'. ;)
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if yew plan on removing the roots, i would leaf enough of the tree to get a bite for the chain. you didn't say how big they are (i've seen 'em from 3'-12'), but typically the higher the chain bite the easier they will pull out. they will come out easier if you loosen the dirt with a shovel or pickaxe
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Wax it. Oh, wait... :O
Tie a rope around the bush and to the back of a pick up truck....
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Wax it. Oh, wait... :O
Isn't there supposed to be a car, and maybe an ex-boyfriend involved?
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F-550 with a boom crane worked pretty well when we were pulling 8" dia cedar stumps last week. Beat the hell out of digging them out. :P
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If you are building raised beds over hte area, cut them of at ground level and call it good.
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If you are building raised beds over the area, cut them of at ground level and call it good.
^^^Yep. I do this sort of thing for a living. Tearing the stumps out is completely unnecessary if you're piling several inches of soil on top.
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Save the stems that you cut off for making wizard staffs ;)
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Befriend some stoners. Make up a few convincing fake articles about the narcotic effects of yew root.
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Straight, non smart ass answer: Cut them down, use straight 2,4 D (Weed B Gone) on the stumps.
Result: dead trees.
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As DD and JFR say, just cut them flush with thr ground. The roots won't sprout new growth.
If you were to jerk the roots out, who knows what else you might pull up like water/sewer/septic pipes, TV or phone lines, gas lines, etc.
TC
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Wax it. Oh, wait... :O
Tie a rope around the bush and to the back of a pick up truck....
You forgot about the "drink copious supply of beer first" part.
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And video the entire process and post on Yewtube.
I can't believe I was the first with this..... =D =D =D ;/
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And video the entire process and post on Yewtube.
I can't believe I was the first with this..... =D =D =D ;/
i was busy trying to get together a road trip to go............................... nah best not to post that pun.:angel: :facepalm:
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As DD and JFR say, just cut them flush with thr ground. The roots won't sprout new growth.
Dunno about Yew, but my holly did sprout back several times even though the stumps were cut off below ground level.
Straight, non smart ass answer: Cut them down, use straight 2,4 D (Weed B Gone) on the stumps.
That is what finally took care of my holly bushes. After the 2nd summer of them sending up new sprouts, I found the stumps, drilled holes into them, and filled the holes with brush killer (being careful not to spill it around the stumps). Haven't had sprouts since...
Chris
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Can you soak them with diesel and set them ablaze? Fire is always fun.
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FIRE!!!!! FIRE!!!!!!! FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!! >:D
DDDDDRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oops wrong show =D (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USkCsrO9sz4) umm that link is rated D, so umm not work safe. [tinfoil]
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A good kindling is old floppy disks.
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There are very few problems in life that cannot be solved with the appropriate application of high explosives.
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There are very few problems in life that cannot be solved with the appropriate application of high explosives.
Hm, certain marital issues come to mind there.
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Well, this morning, when I was supposed to be working, I cut 'em down. Well, two of them. There are four altogether, but I can't afford to put in that much new landscaping, so this is a two year project.
Now that I look at everything without massive yew bushes in the way, I think I want my raised beds a little bit further from the house, with room behind 'em for some perennials, so I'm thinking of rooting out at least the surface part of the stumps. Won't weed killer on the stumps contaminate the surrounding area? When my neighbors took theirs out, he just chopped up the stumps with an axe. I don't own an axe, but I could probably borrow one. Thus far my experience with axes consists of a camping companion explaining that I am clearly too female to handle splitting wood.
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Hm, certain marital issues come to mind there.
a good day on the range with some tannerite cures what ails ya. =D
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Well, this morning, when I was supposed to be working, I cut 'em down. Well, two of them. There are four altogether, but I can't afford to put in that much new landscaping, so this is a two year project.
Now that I look at everything without massive yew bushes in the way, I think I want my raised beds a little bit further from the house, with room behind 'em for some perennials, so I'm thinking of rooting out at least the surface part of the stumps. Won't weed killer on the stumps contaminate the surrounding area? When my neighbors took theirs out, he just chopped up the stumps with an axe. I don't own an axe, but I could probably borrow one. Thus far my experience with axes consists of a camping companion explaining that I am clearly too female to handle splitting wood.
that's no way to treat an ax, especially a borrowed one. =|
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Hm, now I feel even more ignorant, but now I don't know why.
Could you elaborate on appropriate axe use, please?
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Won't weed killer on the stumps contaminate the surrounding area?
Shouldn't I drill 1/2" holes into the stumps and put the 2,4-D on top and it soaks into the wood. It shouldn't go anywhere else, and I believe it decays in about 30 days. Weed-B-Gone is a brand name for 2,4-D.
There are also special stump killers that you paint on the stumps, but they are more expensive and no more effective than 2,4-D.
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Hm, now I feel even more ignorant, but now I don't know why.
Could you elaborate on appropriate axe use, please?
sorry about not being able to type it up right, this is kind of condescending but it's close enough to right to save your ax(and feet =D).
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/Fspubs/99232823/page16.htm
this is the most important thing.
Never strike the ground with your ax. If you need to cut roots, use a grubbing tool like a Pulaski or grub hoe. If you have to use an ax, use a "grubbing" ax that you don't care about abusing.
and watch them feet axes have a way of hitting where you don't expect them to. [tinfoil](https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fhwa.dot.gov%2Fenvironment%2FFspubs%2F99232823%2Ffig074.jpg&hash=2e4696b66740be5c5113d39fb6b9e25caf489d4a)
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My father planted several yews along the front of our house when I was a sprout. Many years later, after he died, my brother and I were asked by our mother to remove them. OMG! Those who advocate dynamite or C4 are the people you NEED to listen to. The roots are killers. By all means, cut the bushes down to the stump(s) first. Then dig out around the roots, loosen things up as much as possible, and then (and ONLY then) hook up and yank them out.
Do you folks own and drive a "car"? If so, forget yanking yews. Find somebody with at least a 3/4 ton pickup and four-wheel drive. If the engine happens to be a turbo diesel, so much the better.
I have heard that some varieties of yews can be poisonous to animals.
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These particular yews were planted in 1954. I've been working on digging around trying to loosen up the larger of the two. Guess I should look up the rooting pattern. I'm a foot deep on all sides, and have cut several large and smaller roots, no sign of anything approaching loosened up yet.
Thanks for the axe link. =)
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It is possible the two yutes...
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You definitely want a Pulaski instead of an ax. It's like an ax with an adz(?) on the back side. Best tool ever for digging out roots and such. Not all that expensive.
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You definitely want a Pulaski instead of an ax. It's like an ax with an adz(?) on the back side. Best tool ever for digging out roots and such. Not all that expensive.
This. AKA grub axe.
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i hate these things (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?cid=17197083704071595299), would rather split a cord of wood then dig out a 10 foot(well that the part i did. :angel:) ditch around a new latrine. =| idea was ditch around for the concrete to go into and it would be stabilize, i never got back to see. =)
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This. AKA grub axe.
A pick mattock might be easier to find in some areas, and a heavy one will do the job quite well.
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a quote from a different thread HT posted this and i couldn't help but think it might be good for busting Yews.(crap i posted that pun after all, sorry all. :facepalm:)
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpremium1.uploadit.org%2FdocZox%2F%2Fhakapiksm.jpg&hash=572cf1e4f5ea15eeef8b0600c0b7756a9219ea02)
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Yeah, I caught that in the other thread.
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You know I'm an expert on this because you read it on the internet.
Cut branches to within 18" of ground.
Dig 12" deep hole around stump
Wrap chain tightly around stump below remaining branches at old ground level
Wrap other end of chain (or cable or stout rope) around bumper of nearest auto.
Tighten chain by driving auto away from stump, thus tensioning the root system.
No need to spin tires or rev engine, just get a constant, steady pressure on the root system.
Jump in the hole with a standard shovel sharpened with a mill bastard file (sharp like an axe, not a scalpel)
Chop the roots with the shove as you stand in the hole. With tension on the roots, the shovel will cut through all but the thickest of them in 2-3 jabs.
Wear stout boots, no flip flops!!!
As roots get cut, you may need to take 6" of slack out of the chain a couple times. Chop again.
Fill the hole with soil.
All of the cuts are now about 6-8 inches underground
Leave the roots in the hole, they won't grow.
Total time in sandy soil for a 8' yew - 30 minutes (not including cleanup)
Clay soil, 75 minutes.
I've done this on dozens of yews with trucks, tractors, backhoes and passenger cars.
You are not using horsepower to pull the rootball out, you are severing the roots, which cut much easier when under tension.
Imagine trying to cut a string with a knife as it hangs in midair. Now anchor the string and pull it tight.
This is what you are trying to do to the roots.
It's simpler than it sounds.
Taxol is the toxin in english and anglojap yews. It's been used in cancer research.
Deer eat the needles and bark.
I've never heard of anyone being harmed during gardening contact.
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Yews?
You need to get their attention first. You need a helicopter, and a bullhorn, tell them to stand still. And you might want to yell at them for thinking they can have their pudding before they eat their meat.
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(sharp like an axe, not a scalpel)
Someone isn't spending enough time on his axe.
Yews?
You need to get their attention first. You need a helicopter, and a bullhorn, tell them to stand still. And you might want to yell at them for thinking they can have their pudding before they eat their meat.
Who let all this riffraff into the room?
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I had to remove a pair of Juniper bushes from the front of my parents house a few years ago because their roots were getting into the sewer line and clogging it (I also had to repair the sewer line).
I used a mattock, and it worked well. I actually turned to the mattock because the soil around here is extremely hard and a shovel was taking forever, but it worked just as well on the roots, too. I think the one I used cost all of $16 at the hardware store; maybe less.