Removing an Entire Tree

Trees look great in the yard and generally a wonderful thing to have. Unfortunately, trees are not invincible and will sometimes come down with disease, or other such problem that kills the tree off. When this happens, the only choice that you have is to remove the tree.

If it turns out that you have to remove your whole tree, you have two main choices. The first choice is to pay a service to come and remove the tree. Your other option is to remove the whole thing by yourself. If you decide that you want to remove it yourself, you have a huge project ahead of you.

The first thing that you need to do is to look for things that the tree can potentially all on and damage. This includes cars, electrical lines, and your house. Unless your tree is out in the middle of a big field, you probably have something that it can fall on when cut down. If you do not think you can cut it down without hitting something, you should call a service.

After you know it is possible not to hit anything, put guide lines on the tree to help it fall in the right direction. After that, place a notch on the tree on the height you want to cut and the way that you want the tree to fall down. Remember that the tree will fall toward the cut. You should make the notch one third the diameter of the tree both in depth and in height. When the notch is in place, start cutting on the side opposite of the notch in toward the notch. Take your time and things should work. Remember, things can go wrong and get out of control, and then you just have to get out of the way. It really is safest just to get a service.

Once the tree is gone, you can remove the trunk by renting a stump grinder. If you do not want to pay the money, you can dig around the stump and use a lot of manual labor to pull the stump out. Another method is to hurry the decomposition system along. This is done by cutting the stump down as low as possible, then drilling big holes in the remainder of the stump. Pour water and nitrogen rich fertilizer all over the stump, then cover the stump with a plastic tarp. Cover the plastic tarp with mulch to help retain moisture. Then wait. You can make things go even faster if you repeat pouring the stump with water and nitrogen every now and then.

After a little while, removing the stump will be easy since it will all be decayed.