Yew bush removal

[sanglant]

FIRE!!!!! FIRE!!!!!!! FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!


DDDDDRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oops wrong show umm that link is rated D, so umm not work safe.

[Matthew Carberry]

A good kindling is old floppy disks.

[RoadKingLarry]

There are very few problems in life that cannot be solved with the appropriate application of high explosives.

[BridgeRunner]

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.

[BridgeRunner]

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.

[sanglant]

Hm, certain marital issues come to mind there.

a good day on the range with some tannerite cures what ails ya.

[sanglant]

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.

[BridgeRunner]

Hm, now I feel even more ignorant, but now I don't know why. 

Could you elaborate on appropriate axe use, please?

[Larry Ashcraft]

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.

[sanglant]

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 ).

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.

[darius]

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. 

[BridgeRunner]

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.   

[Matthew Carberry]

It is possible the two yutes...

[mgdavis]

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.

[CNYCacher]

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.

[sanglant]

i hate these things, would rather split a cord of wood then dig out a 10 foot(well that the part i did. ) 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.

[KD5NRH]

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.

[sanglant]

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. )

[BridgeRunner]

Yeah, I caught that in the other thread. 

[Tuco]

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.

[AJ Dual]

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.

[CNYCacher]

(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?

[Regolith]

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.