How To Remove A Hedge

A hedge or hedge row is a line of closely spaced shrubs and tree species or bushes, usually thorn bushes. It is planted and trained in such a way that it becomes a form of a barrier to mark the boundary of an area. A hedge row may consist of a single species or several randomly mixed species of plants or bushes. It acts as a fence between two portions of land. If planted in rows, it separates the parts of a garden. Hedge is mainly used to provide a garden its privacy. Apart from that, it also helps to shoo away the outside visual pollution. Alternate species can be planted at regular intervals to present different colors or textures to suit the surrounding atmosphere. Although your objectives of maintaining privacy or separating two fields using a hedge is fulfilled, you need to know that the hedges ought to be removed occasionally for a variety of reasons. They can be in poor condition from long periods of neglect or simply because they no longer gel well with the landscape. Go through the following lines to get tips on removing hedges.

Tips On Removing Hedges

Things Required

Hand Saw/Chain Saw
Shovel
Spade
Mechanical Excavator, if available

Procedure

At first, you need to cut off the top foliage, i.e., the cluster of leaves of the hedging plants to a few inches above the soil line. Start from the top and work your way down towards the base of the hedge.
If you plan to uproot the stump, leave 5 to 8 inches of stump, so that you have something to pull. Using a spade, loosen the soil around the stump. Grab the stump and pull it away from the ground. Repeated wiggling and pulling may be necessary to loosen the stump's roots enough to allow you to pull it out.
Now collect and carry away the foliage and the branches so that you have a clear view of the root area and also the required space to work further.
Remove the soil around the main root of each hedge plant, until you can let your shovel or excavating tool under the bulk of these roots. Use your shovel to lift the remains of these trunk roots up and out of the soil.
Make sure that you dig for any remaining larger roots out of the soil and discard them to prevent the hedges from growing back or rotting in the soil. While it may not be possible to remove every bit of root material, pulling up all that you can, will prevent trouble for any new plants or trees put in the same location.
You can also paint the stump with a stump killer herbicide. It is a chemical that penetrates the plant's underground root system and kills it, preventing new shoots from springing up.

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