Gardening and Horticulture - Kill a tree???

Hey everyone!

As bad as this may sound, i'd like to know how to kill a tree. There's this huge tree in front my house that we recently moved into. As i said i'd like to know how i can kill it before cutting it down. And yes i know it can be just cut down like that, but i like to know how i can kill it first!

All suggestions are appreciated!

the area between the bark and the trunk is called the cambium layer.this is how the tree carries water and nutrients to the leaves. if you girdle the base of the tree exposing the cambium layer, the tree will die.

i'm collecting a few estimates for removing 2- 60ft tall silver maples, and a 2 hard/rock maple trees that are destroying my backyard, the second company who gave me an estimate answered with this, when i asked if he did stump grinding...

"if you can find some copper nails, drive them into the stump diagonally, so the tip of the nail points towards the center, and load up the stump with about 12-24 of them, and it will rot out in 1-2yrs."

copper is a deadly metal to most life forms, esp. marine fish and corals, not sure if it works with trees, but that's what some 'professional' told me.

I belive all that Copper Sulfate will do is for you is to kill out the very fungi that you need to decompose the root system.

Wives tales are fun, but that is why we now have the Worlds greatest Library sitting right in front of us. It only makes good sense to do some research before we pass information along.

One thing I do know is Copper Sulfate is highly toxic to all Fungi. Without the many Fungi in the natural world we know today. The World would be very different place indeed.

Check on the inter relationship between the Fungi & the other plants & Trees. Some trees will not grow without certin fungi they live because of helping each other.

it can kill some species of bacteria, kills most water-born parasites, all mollusks, and all coral, and in larger quantities fish, that i know first hand. as i have kept reef tanks, and saltwater tanks for over a dozen yrs, and copper sulfate is a very common medicine for infected fish.

also please note, i did make clear i wasn't sure if it worked with trees, and/or the quotes around the word professional. i did try goggling that topic, as it sounded strange to me, when the 'professional' told me about it, but after finding practically nothing on the subject i decided it was the talk of an ill-informed guy at least in my situation.

however homeowner wanted a way to kill a tree and I know as well that trees do have relationships with fungi and bacteria, and since copper sulfate does indeed kill fungi and bacteria inserting a few cooper nails might not be such a bad idea.

Hi ijedi

Now you know why we call it DIY :) If you want to try something then you are welcome to Do it Yourself first. Just let us know how it worked LOL.

Also the Garden Forum are not a Hortuculture pop quiz no no! We come here because we enjoy the peace, & bond we create with nature. Knowing our latin plant names is important if you are in the bisness of buying, & selling.

Farming Heirloom plants etc. DIY Garden Forum is a laid back place to learn the right way to do the job. After all if we want a poor job we can hire someone to do it for us. Is this not the #1 reason most of us DIY?

PS there are no rules to starting a thread of ones own & take it to way past HS Hort. There are some real growers in here with many decades of building their minds with growing plants. :)

Just curious.... why do you want to kill it first? :confused:

I was just wondering that myself. Wood gets harder to cut when it starts to dry :confused:

just speaking out loud here; but perhaps he thinks by killing the tree before he cuts it down, it will kill the root system as well, thus making the root cleanup/removal easier (by grinding,fire, snake-oil chemicals, etc)

thanks marturo for your clarification on the purposes of the hort. diy forum, a little confused, but thanks nonetheless.

thanks marturo for your clarification on the purposes of the hort. diy forum, a little confused, but thanks nonetheless.

Your welcome.

As i mentioned before, this huge tree in front of my house could be a real danger to during a bad storm. The tree belongs to the township, however they refuses to remove it because it's a healthy tree. Also, it's so big that the roots could be damaging to the house itself. The roots have already made the walkway in the front of the house all messed up. As much as i would hate to do it, they have basically left me with no choice, but to kill the tree so they can come and remove it.

can you get someone from the local forrestry dept. to come out and assess the true safety situation and advise the township of the potential dangers. if they do not deem the tree as a potential hazard, maybe it will ease your mind. if they do, get them to contact the proper authorities for you.

Some rules can be as dumb as those who wrote them. However like Kerry says there must be another path. If somehow you could show the Township just how much it will cost the Town to repair or replace your House & Property.

Just maybe they will see how cheap one tree can be removed for. If that fails you have no choice but to kill the tree. If the simple math eludes them I would be very careful how I killed their tree. You don't need charges of willful destruction of Township Property & a big fine.

Send me a PM (Just say hi) so I know your PM system is working. We need to talk alone.