[Mum2mj]

Hi, we have just moved house & we have a row of conifers I'd like to remove. The garden extends a lot further back & I'd like to be able to see it! Hopefully pic has attached. I'm planning on getting a quote or two anyway from some tree surgeons but would like some advice on a DIY option too. They're not particularly close to anything structural. Many thanks

[Mum2mj]

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[Lardman]

They only look about 12ft.

Good pair of loppers and a bow saw, take them down to half height first from a pair of step ladders, then cut again leaving 1ft above ground. Getting the roots out will be the biggest headache. Most companies don't bother and either leave them proud of the surface or just grind them level 

With no scary power tools (I don't like chainsaws) or help - Id say down and disposed of in a day. The stump will depend on the age of the trees, they look to have been topped how wide are the trunks ?

[Kevin67]

I took down some conifers when I moved into my present house and found the roots were about as long as my leg and thick as my wrist for a large part of it. Not pleasant.

If I had to do it again, I'd use a saw just a few inches above the ground, with a helper to make sure I didn't get Triffied - and then I would dig down no more than 12" and cut whatever was there and leave the rest.

One such nasty tree stump, which I couldn't remove, was covered with a bush.

[Kristen]

If you want to get the roots out leave some Trunk above ground (perhaps a metre even) to give you something to get hold of. I used a mini digger to get mine out, but hiring a winch might do the trick - can winch against another one - until you get to the last one!

Stump grinder is the other option, but I don't know how much that leaves in the ground, in practice.

[mumofstig]

It's easier to make the final cut at, or just below, ground level as they don't regrow from the stumps - they have just gently rotted away without problems when I had some taken down.
When replanting with perennials, I just had to avoid the main roots - but I laid turves straight over some of them (although they do show as parch marks in a hot summer)

[Mum2mj]

Lardman they look to be upto around 25cm diameter. Thanks for the advice everyone, quite like the idea of letting the roots rot away as I've enough to do at the moment 

[crh75]

I actually found it surprisingly easy to remove some conifers with a heavy, sharp mattock.  As the roots were all round the tree and there was no tap root there was no big excavation under it.  The first one I tried with a spade and that took half a day or more. With the mattock about 30 mins per tree. 

Unfortunately between trying with the spade and getting the mattock I cut a few off level with the ground and now wish I had waited to dig them out.

[Lardman]

I actually found it surprisingly easy to remove some conifers with a heavy, sharp mattock. 

Like this one? 

That was an ash tree, tree came down in an hour - the roots took 3 days, partly because it was wedged between the concrete gravel boards and the chicken run and partly because it was well 'ard ! I could hardly move that 4ft section.

I couldn't leave the roots they would just annoy me and you could bet where ever I wanted to plant would be right on top of a stump. If the area is just being turfed over I could probably live with it.

[Kristen]

We have a conifer stump - the last one on the end of the hedge's row, cut flat and level with a path that it is now part of! We've been here 8 years, so it was cut down prior to that. Absolutely no sign of rot, and everyone slips on it when it is wet

I think its a Leylandii ... dunno if they have some resin which makes them rot slowly / not-at-all ? and maybe other conifers don't have that problem?

[Kevin67]

There is some chemical stump remover but that also takes years.

I'm guessing whatever option is going to take a few years, unless real grunt is applied to remove the stump manually. Do you have any young/teenage family that can do this?

[grinling]

some people advertise on freecycle for collection and removal for free wood,

[Mum2mj]

Funnily enough a request for logs came through on freegle but they specifically said no conifers! 

[grinling]

conifers need to be stacked for 2 years instead of 1, the heat is brill.

[Kristen]

We stack all our firewood for two years - we find it continues to dry in the second year sufficient to make a significant difference.

Conifer wood spits when burnt, and that would be a problem for an open fire, so that might be why they didn't want it.  We try not to mix in much conifer wood as it burns very hot which is not good for our boiler, it also means that the boiler needs filling more often - fierce heat, but for a short period of time, and overall less heat output per "refill" of logs than a hardwood.