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We have moved into new house with a 20 year old giant redwood planted 8-10 ft from the property it is approx 60ft tall (I know before anyone says it 'what a place to plant it' ).
Much as I would like to keep it, I am aware that it is a problem to the foundations of our house and also our neighbours and so it has to go.
Is there anyone out there with any words of wisdom and expertise regarding potential problems or indeed near enough to the area to come and assist/advise etc
anyone know what it costs to have trees removed?
any help would be appreciated!

Rosie

(I'm planning on replacing the tree elsewhere on the land and my neighbour has said he will also plant a tree, so 2 for the price of one)

Problem trees, go to gardenlaw.com. Amongst the people on that website are a Council Tree Officer, abourculturist's (spelling?) , Allan Harris, a tree expert/civil engineer who advises in court and many others. Allan Harris is in Hayes, Kent he helped me in overturning a TPO (tree preservation order). Watch out for tree preservation orders, make sure there is not one on the tree, cutting down a tree with a TPO could cost you £20,000. Phone the council, don't invite them round. The tree may or may not be a risk to your property at that distance. Are you on clay for example?. My humble advice, sadly, would be to rid yourself of the tree and plant some more trees in a place further from the house. 1st step though, gardenlaw, then ask a question under trees.

John

Take some pictures before it goes! I wish I'd taken more pictures when we first moved into our flat so we could more easily follow how we've gradually improved and developed things in the garden.

Wulf

If it comes to felling it, I would employ a fully insured speciallist. The amount of damage a tree that size could do to a house if it fell the wrong way doesn't bear thinking about. Make sure they are not just someone who happens to be a bit handy with a chainsaw.

Also, a 60 foot tree may have some value to a sawmill, though I suppose they may not be interested in single trees.

Do you have a woodburning fire?

Get themn to chop it into logs for the fire if you have, then keep them over the next year and use them next winter.

OR

Get the brandches chipped for use as mulch/pathways on an allotment/garden. Also good for putting round childrens' play equipment.

the.fee.fairy wrote:Get the brandches chipped for use as mulch/pathways on an allotment/garden. Also good for putting round childrens' play equipment.

Oohhhhhh nooooooo!
We have woodchip down in the back garden play area, the kids get filthy and the cats think it is a wonderful place to poo.
It is coming up as soon as we can afford to get someone round with a rotovator, and we are laying grass.

i stand corrected!

Makes me quite glad i didn't get out tree chipped for the veg patch now!

PurpleDragon wrote:We have woodchip down in the back garden play area, the kids get filthy and the cats think it is a wonderful place to poo.
It is coming up as soon as we can afford to get someone round with a rotovator, and we are laying grass.

You can borrow our rotovator if you like. It's a big beast and very effective. You'd need a trailer or a van to transport it as I can't get it into the Land Rover unless I disassemble it (and then you have to lift all the very heavy bits in instead of wheeling it).

the.fee.fairy wrote:i stand corrected!

Makes me quite glad i didn't get out tree chipped for the veg patch now!

When the electricity people topped some of our spruce trees, they chipped them and we've been using them for paths between the raised beds. They're not too bad, but thistles seem to thrive on them!

It would definitely be worth researching the value of the lumber. I'm not sure on how workable or durable redwood is but a little bit of ebay research suggests that it can be used for various purposes, including guitar making (eg. fingerboards and guitar tops).

It wouldn't be any good without being stored and seasoned for sometime but if you can hook up with someone who has the appropriate facilities, you may be able to work out a deal whereby you can at least offset the cost of the felling, if not pay for the replacement tree(s).

Wulf

killing a tree...

[sob sob]


I think we should all plant one in remembrance.

[sniff]


I remember in an old house we lived in... the landlord sent out a lopper to clear branches away from the solar panel... my kids cried like I have never seen them cry when that old mango went.... they cried louder than the chainsaws...

wulf wrote:...a little bit of ebay research suggests that it can be used for various purposes, including guitar making (eg. fingerboards and guitar tops).

May be a good idea to identify what sort of 'redwood' it is. Is it a giant redwood, or a Giant Redwood? The European Redwood (Scots Pine) is a different thing to the Californian Redwoods (Sequoia), which include the Giant Redwood. I think there is also a Brazillian Redwood, which is different yet again.

The European Redwood is grown extensively for it's timber. I think technically, 'redwood' is the name of the timber, and 'Scots Pine' is the name of the tree, IYSWIM. It's main use is in the construction industry and joinery.

Whatever it is, a tree that size should have some value (though I've no idea how much). But a sawmill or processing plant may not be too keen to collect a single tree from what may be a difficult to reach garden (I could be wrong).

Muddypause wrote:The European Redwood is grown extensively for it's timber. I think technically, 'redwood' is the name of the timber, and 'Scots Pine' is the name of the tree, IYSWIM. It's main use is in the construction industry and joinery.

Whatever it is, a tree that size should have some value (though I've no idea how much). But a sawmill or processing plant may not be too keen to collect a single tree from what may be a difficult to reach garden (I could be wrong).

Surprisingly little, I'd suspect. A couple of Scots Pine had to come down on my neighbour's place after storms last year and he would have had to pay to have them taken away.

I now have them cut down to eight foot logs, waiting until I can find time to split or saw them. They have to come in under cover in the next month or so - a task I'm not looking forward to as they have much bigger diameters than the strainer posts I'm used to carrying.

It was the same with some sessile oaks that had to come down on a nearby farm (rather strangely, as part of a tree planting grant they had to cut down existing trees). Anyway, the oak logs, which were quite good and about two feet in diameter couldn't be sold for timber and eventually went for firewood.

thanks for your replies,

I've had a bit of a google and I think it is a 'Dawn Redwood' it is going brown now (that species is deciduous) and the leaves are the tell-tale 'opposite'....its not one of the very biggest redwoods, but still grows to about 100ft and so close to the house is just asking for trouble.

Boots wrote:killing a tree...

[sob sob]


I think we should all plant one in remembrance.

[sniff]

That's a fab idea Boots! I feel so bad about having to get rid of this tree (I really wish that the tree was much further away I hate to have to do this and I know I'll cry when the time comes)
I wonder if any of you would, like myself, plant a tree in your own gardens..obviously space permitting.....we could have a 2006 Plant a selfsufficientish tree occasion. I am going to plant exactly the same one, I've already found a tree nursery online that I can get one from, my neighbour is also going to plant one....would anyone else fancy joining in? if so can you post and let me know which tree you decide on.

A tree is a great legacy to carry on when we've gone and they are so beautiful!

Rosie x

rosiep wrote:I wonder if any of you would, like myself, plant a tree in your own gardens..obviously space permitting.....we could have a 2006 Plant a selfsufficientish tree occasion. I am going to plant exactly the same one, I've already found a tree nursery online that I can get one from, my neighbour is also going to plant one....would anyone else fancy joining in? if so can you post and let me know which tree you decide on.

A tree is a great legacy to carry on when we've gone and they are so beautiful!

Rosie x

We've been planting trees and hedgerows since we moved here, but the cost starts getting prohibitive when you have a place with a bit of land and few trees.

We keep asking relatives and friends to give us (and the boys) trees for birthday and Christmas presents instead of gadgets and plastic tat, but the message doesn't seem to get through.

Our idea is to plant specimen trees at key points around the place (boundary corners, along ploughing sight lines etc), establish a couple of coppices on 10-year cycles, plant wildlife habitats in the corners of the fields where tractors can't turn, plant hedgerows, and set up a couple of small orchards.

To provide firewood we'd need to fell 10-15 coppiced trees a year over the 10-year cycle. That would mean planting 15 treees for coppicing every year for 10 years, plus at least five specimen trees a year, plus hedgerow plus fruit trees.

So, we aim to put in a lot of specifically Scottish natives (oak, birch, alder, aspen, dwarf birch, hazel, juniper, rowan, Scots pine) plus other British natives like blackthorn, hawthorn, holly, dog rose etc. Then more apple and plum trees.

The other big issue is finding locally sourced stock - the situation is slowly improving but many of the "Scottish" natives actually come from big nurseries in England so you lose the genetic adaptation to local conditions.

We've put in rowan, alder, holly, blackthorn, hawthorn and dog rose so far but would really like to get some Scots pine, oak, birch and juniper in ASAP.