[crowndale]

I have a patch of ground that I am currently digging over as a second vege patch.  When I moved in 4 or 5 years ago I had the 5, 40 foot high leylandi that were there removed and the trunks ground down but not removed.  Last year I dug it over for the 3rd time and thought i'd got all the roots out but today I found an enormous root ball about 12" across about 3" below the surface.  How I missed it last year is beyond me, or maybe I deliberately left it because it is so big but have wiped that from my memory!  Anyway, tomorrow I face the mammouth task of digging it out, not looking for to it but need the space for my sprouts and brocoli.  

Anyway, will leaving parts of it in the ground (it's fairly rotton and bits keep falling off it) do any harm to the sprouts etc?  Digging it out it smells like mushroom compost so is obviously got some sort of fungal thing in it.

[richyrich7]

Honestly don't know crowndale but if it was me I'd remove what I can and leave the rest, decomposition by fungi etc. is all part of the natural process and so is in the ground anyway, and I think fungi is a bit like maggots & only eats the rotten stuff.

[crowndale]

i think I will have to leave bits of it in because it is falling to pieces!  But that said the main root ball is solidly anchored into the ground and won't budge.  The soil round it is solid orange clay and really hard to remove, its also very wet even though the proper soil is very dry, I have been chopping bits of the rotton stuff off as I get to it but need to dig right under it really to get to the main roots under neath.  Its too wet to get a saw into which is a pain or I could have chopped it up a bit more.  Ah well, back to the hard graft and hope it comes out today.  Its a bit like wiggling a stubborn tooth when you are a kid, nothing happens until it suddenly just falls out!

[crowndale]

After 4 hours of hard graft finally managed to get the root out in two large lumps as it split.  My shoulders really ache today with all the digging under neath it!  But at least the brocoli can go in there now.

[liz from the fizz]

True grit and determination. Well done i have dug a few out in the past, challenging, but so satisfying when you get the blighters out. liz

[crowndale]

Aye, a job well done indeed!  I have dug it over and planted out teh prouts and broccoli, still got a bit of room for some of the plug plants arriving shortly by post but am desperately removing couch grass and bind weed from my friends allotment as i know I don't have enough room in my own small patch.

[David.]

but need the space for my sprouts and brocoli

Have you checked the pH is OK for brassicas? because I've got some hazy, distant memory (but that's all i've got these days, so it may be wrong) that the pH gets raised under conifers.

[WG.]

Good call I reckon David.  Worst offenders are spruce and pine which drop their needles.  The litter is very acidic.

Leylandii don't lose needles but it would be worth applying a generous (double?) dose of lime before brassicas,

[crowndale]

That might account for their wilted appearance!  Already put them in, is it too late to add stuff now?

[WG.]

Rake some lime into the soil around the plants.  Water well (which might be the real reason for their appearance).

[crowndale]

They've had a lot of water (it was very dry) and the ground is still damp but they are still wilted, they could still be recovering I guess from the move but I'll go and buy some lime tomorrow anyway just to cover myself!

[WG.]

I'll go and buy some lime tomorrow anyway just to cover myself!

No no crowndale, cover the ground not yourself !  

[David.]

They've had a lot of water (it was very dry) and the ground is still damp but they are still wilted, they could still be recovering I guess from the move but I'll go and buy some lime tomorrow anyway just to cover myself!

A fellow 'plotter' always swore that wilting brassicas was a good sign that they would settle in!

But another 'hazy memory' ( I did say I have lots of those), conifers are shallow rooting, hence the dessicated soil which will also be lacking in nutrients (bearing in mind the height of the trees) and there will be a conflict in adding compost or manure and liming.