Chopping down pine trees

[Jude]

Anyone know of someone experienced in chopping down trees in Vire region? We have three pine trees which are spoiling view and taking up lots of garden space - any advice gratefully received.

Jude

[Kennymike]

Hi Jude

Sorry I don't know anyone who can help directly although asking locally may provide a few recommendations.

Why not have a go yourself?  Of course, a lot will depend on how big your trees are and how close they may be to your house or overhead wires etc.  Conifers generally are shallow-rooting and are not too difficult to cut down. As with all trees, getting the roots out can be the most difficult part.  If you want a perfect finish without any bumps left in your lawn from the roots, then some digging may be needed.  However, my sone and I took out some six to eight quite tall conifers in quite a short space of time.  Because of where these were, he was happy to leave the stumps and he has since covered these with fast growing clematis and other flowering creepers.  Remember that using the stumps as a fence or support for other growing plants can make a good screen and, what is more, you can pretty much set the height of this to whatever you want.

Sorry if this all misses the point and it will not be of much help if you want to get completely rid of the trees altogether!  Good Luck!

Ken

[Tresco]

Jude, we (friends and us) chopped down about 10, the largest was about 50ft high. This was in UK. The guys clambered up the trees to cut off as many big branches as they could, and then cut the trees in sections so we didn't have the huge whole trunks falling.

It was definately one of those jobs I wished at the time we had paid someone to do, but it was safely done in the end.

Of course you are then left with an enormous amount of wood to deal with. We shredded all the leaves and smaller branches, and added them to the compost, gradually. The rest provided bonfires for about 2 years.

If you are worried about whether you are allowed to cut these trees down for some reason, you could ask at the Mairie.

[Jude]

Thanks for useful replies, thats a good idea to leave stumps as part of fencing or to grow climbing plants on. The three pine trees in question are standing on a sloping garden, so I guess we need to leave the roots in anyway to support the slope if necessary. The garden is very overgrown and removing the three trees is just beginning of lots of work! it is a terraced layout which has been neglected so we are also thinking of putting decking on a couple of the terraces to level the areas out, as one slopes so much I almost somersaulted into the chicken run the other day!