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Can I kill hedge roots by burying them?
Tim Stanley
Posts: 4
Long story short I have cut down a two and half metre high, forty metre long hedge to ankle height stumps but i can't dig out the roots for fear of disturbing next door fence posts. My plan is to build a raised bed next to the stumps, cover the stumps in soil and then cover the soil with weed membrane for a year or so to inhibit any growth. Will this kill off hedge stumps?
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Posts
What sort of hedge was it Tim? If it was a Leylandii then you needn't do anything. The stumps will not regrow
If it was something else then let us know what it was so we can advise
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Not sure if what you are suggesting will kill off the stumps. Better to use stump root killer on them but even so it will take years for the physical mass to rot and fall away. Much better to dig out as many as possible - a big job I know but worth it in the end.
I don't mind if it takes years for the stumps to rot, I will only be putting breeding plants on top.
I just don't want the hedge to start growing back when I take the weed membrane off next summer.
Knew what you meant Tim
. Fingers just get in the way of typing.
The best tools for getting stumps out are a spade, fork and pickaxe. I did it today with a shrub and tree-trunk and I'm bushed. Just take it easy and set small goals and you'll get there. Ooh I did use a pruning saw on some roots. Good luck
You could hire a stump grinder if you really can't dig them out. Privet seems to shoot up whatever you do.
I did get a man in with a stump grinder once. It made quick work of some tree roots. Good idea.