Advice Needed Killing a weeping willow

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gap30

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technomate 90cm dish
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Liverpool
After someone gave me some 'friendly advice' I thought I would ask the more green fingered peeps on here for their opinions

I have currently offered the asking price on a house I am interested in

I am having a structural survey carried out in the next day or two

There is a rather large tree in the garden which I plan to cut down, thing is I have been informed that these tree's are a little harder to erase than normal

Has anyone on here tackled something like this before?

This picture does not do it justice, this thing is huge and dwarfs at least 6 houses, this pic was taken about 4 weeks ago it looks ten times worse now

tree.webp
 
Some perspective this is the view from the front of the house, the tree is huge


tree two.webp
 
Cut and burn once a year. Very resilient tree, but they can be managed.
 
Drill 1 inch holes at a 45 degree's deep into the trunk, pour in some copper sulphate, if that doesn't kill it then not much will.
 
I would check the local environmental & planning regulations to ensure that you actually have the right to kill/cut down that tree as there are sometimes rules which might prevent you doing that without specific approval from "someone" in local government.
 
Hire a professional tree surgeon, I'm sure they'll have insights into permanently deleting the tree... :)
 
Terryl said:
Drill 1 inch holes at a 45 degree's deep into the trunk, pour in some copper sulphate, if that doesn't kill it then not much will.
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Along the lines of the method suggested above, you could buy some syringes that are used for tree injection and inject a concentrated copper sulphate solution directly into the xylem of the tree. The syringes are spring loaded to produce enough pressure to inject a solution into a tree and should have a fairly rapid impact on the health of the tree. I have attached a picture below.

As a point of information about the photo I have attached, I was injecting an old apple tree with nutrient solution in an attempt to restore some flavour to the apples and vitality to the tree.
 

Attachments

  • Tree Syringes 01.webp
    Tree Syringes 01.webp
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You need to check with your council that there is no TPO on the tree in question as the fines are pretty steep. Willow even when cut down, dried and laid on ground has been known to sprout, as mentioned very resilient, a more complete method is to stump grind the trunk, to 18" below the ground level then pour caustic on the remaining root and stump to inhibit growth, finally lay a plastic liner on that and cover with 18" of soil.

My son had a tree similar size in his garden 3 mtrs from his house and the branches spread over 5 houses, the stupid 'professional' forgot his stump grinder poured the caustic on the stump then came back a month later and ground the stump spreading sawdust laden with caustic an inch thick over the whole garden killing the grass and every plant in the garden.
 
This tree is going to be a nightmare, I can tell from the answers here

I cannot afford to pay a professional as I am putting a double extension on the house

I am cutting the tree down and replacing it with a 2.4m dish

The neighbors are on board they all hate this tree with a passion, I actually think there is talk of a 'whip round' to contribute towards the costs

Hire a chainsaw, buy a harness and lots of rope and pray I don't kill myself in the process

I even have someone to take the wood for a burner
 
gap30 said:
Hire a chainsaw, buy a harness and lots of rope and pray I don't kill myself in the process
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I'd recommend against this, I've only just recently gotten into using a chainsaw myself (just small garden-related tree limb removal), and all the safety advice I've read and videos I've watched that goes with using them, they pretty much state that if you're not experienced with taking down a tree, leave it to the pros, as a chainsaw can kill or at very least seriously injure or maim you easily, not to mention the rigging required to safely traverse the tree so you don't end up falling down...

One tree ain't worth your life, get a tree surgeon in...
 
Drill a few 20cm deep holes around the base of the trunk using an auger bit then keep them topped up with a 50/50 mix of Roundup, it'll take a few months but it should work, sorted my problem tree out LOL Once it's dead get someone round who knows how to use a chainsaw and let them take it down. I got someone who had a woodburner to do the job, they didn't charge and got a few years of supplies :)
 
Get professional in :-saw
 
gap30 said:
This tree is going to be a nightmare, I can tell from the answers here

I cannot afford to pay a professional as I am putting a double extension on the house

I am cutting the tree down and replacing it with a 2.4m dish

The neighbors are on board they all hate this tree with a passion, I actually think there is talk of a 'whip round' to contribute towards the costs

Hire a chainsaw, buy a harness and lots of rope and pray I don't kill myself in the process

I even have someone to take the wood for a burner
Click to expand...


It's only a willow.

Burn it, really, unless it has some protection on it.

It won't kill the tree so any sandal muncher looking to take offence and pursue a compo claim can go swivel.

It's a yearly ritual though so if you are putting a medium sized dish in the vicinity then let the neighbour's know you are a pyrotechnics expert, ply them with whatever alcohol they would like at the first bonfire and Bobs your uncle.
 
I have to be careful how I tackle it, its a parish (the area)

I want to go in all guns blazing texas chainsaw massacre style

But it certainly has its fair share of 'we know the local council' types

Depending on the outcome of the survey on Wednesday, in essence that tree is doomed
 
Nuke the bloody thing.
 
jeallen01 said:
I would check the local environmental & planning regulations to ensure that you actually have the right to kill/cut down that tree as there are sometimes rules which might prevent you doing that without specific approval from "someone" in local government.
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would not go down this route, kill it first then worry the local environment, ask first and they decline, you are stuck with the tree
 
Look for another house with no trees from south and no neighbors near. :Y
 
WHATAGOAL1 said:
would not go down this route, kill it first then worry the local environment, ask first and they decline, you are stuck with the tree
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Could be very bad advice, a dead tree, especially of that size, can be very dangerous, it requires competent, trained, people, to cut it down, and dispose of it. If it damages neighbouring property, or people, you could be liable.
 
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