Removing a yew bush is sometimes more difficult than cutting down a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . The trunk of a yew , especially close to the ground , is extremely dense and hard to cut even with the piercing chainsaw ( count on ruining the blade ) . And trying to remove it with the old chain - and - pickup - truck method is a formula for calamity , as matured yew found too close to a house commonly penetrate foundation walls .
The English Yew is a beautiful an ancient shrub of smasher used for one C as hedges and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . It ’s been cultivated for thousands of year and was central to ancient Gaelic religious ceremonies . Topping out at anywhere from 5 - 40 feet depending on the cultivar , full - grown yew shrubs are notoriously hard to distill , due to their deep and satisfying root complex body part .
Read the Yew’s plant tag before planting
The yew is one of America ’s most popular plants , but it would seem that most homeowners neverread the works tag . Yew shrubs have a mature height of anywhere from 8 - 15 feet ( and in some case higher ) with a 4 - 5 foot facing pages – it ’s a seriously prominent plant when mature , and should be given a spacious berth from foundation walls . Plant them at least 12 foot from the wall of any building to avoid impairment to concrete foundations and to admit the plant deal of room to spread .
Pruning a Yew is an art
Some homeowners attempt to throttle their yew bush with radical pruning every year , but this can leave them wasteland and misshapen . A professional should cut back your yew , as they bonk how far back it can be taken each year without causing hurt or tension which may conduct to disease .
When rationalise badly , the woody growth of a yew becomes more seeable than its leafage , which is a shame , because the yew ’s foliage is quite beautiful . This is dead on target particularly when left to maturate a little blockheaded on top – the novel foliage develops a light green gloss and sways softly in the gentle wind . For the humble householder , incognizant of the giant he or she planted , pruning is usually a losing battle – the yew is eventually get rid of when it becomes a elephantine woody mess , grows over the pavement , or obscure the front picture window .
Yew shrubs form a beautiful, natural hedge
yew are utterly beautiful when left to grow unpruned – the foliage is soft , remains green year around and is one heck of a windbreak . Yews plant the proper length from each other ( depending on cultivar ) will grow together to make aperfect hedge , so dense that niggling can pass through it . grow this agency they ’re virtually criminal maintenance costless ( depending on your esthetics ) , capable to defy hurricane winds , blizzards or drought . Birds and other wildlife love ripe yew shrub too as they offer dull cover for nesting , protective covering from piranha , and winter protection .
Why I removed my yew shrubs
unluckily , I seldom see yews planted a proper length from sidewalk or home plate origination . golden me , the previous proprietor of my home planted 6 yew shrubs around the base many twelvemonth ago , each about three groundwork from the house . They had grow into monsters .
On my first duad of landscape gardening forays , I removed the smallest two , which were a challenge even at 4 - feet . My son and I care to get them out with brute force and shovels , move out even the abstruse , deep roots . We spend hours bend , straining , digging , hacking , pushing , and pulling . When they finally come out , we collapsed on the lawn , whole spent . This spring , the remaining four shrubs varied in height from 5 - 10 foot . It definitely was time for magnate tools .
I decided to document my method acting for safely removing a yew bush , since I ’ve seen quite a lot of dangerous entropy about this online .
Do not try to remove a yew shrub with your pickup truck and a chain
Some badly - informed swashbuckler will separate you to back up a pickup truck to the yew , tie a chain to the hand truck , lash the other end of the chain around the plant , then put the truck into gear and pull it out . Do n’t do it . The Ernst Boris Chain may lose it , creating a serious hazard , or the pickup ’s tire will spin in place and prod up your yard without ever take out the shrub out . An additional hazard relay to me by a landscapist is that yew roots are known to grow into a cement instauration , taking advantage of any small cracks . If this is the case and you yank the yew out with a truck and range of mountains , a chunk of your instauration may come up with it , which will make for a really , really bad day .
How to remove a yew shrub safely.
1. Use a lopper to cut off the top branches.
2. Dig around the yew with a shovel as deeply and as widely as possible.
Dig about 3 metrical foot wide and as deep as possible so you have elbow room to manoeuvre a chainsaw . Dirt and chainsaw blade are not compatible .
3. Use a pruning saw (small, angled, and sharp) to trim the smaller brush-type branches as close to the trunk as possible.
4. Feel around the trunk of the yew and with the pruning saw sever all roots, large and small.
Removing the ancestor that endure to the trunk is very important . Yew shrubs are infamous for growing back if you go forth even one antecedent intact . you may also do this at the tail goal of the project .
5. With a chainsaw, cut the trunk of the yew as far below the soil’s surface as possible.
This is why you dug around it with a shovelful . You ’ll find the wood to be extremely thick and unmanageable to cut – the older it is , the more heavy it is .
6. Make as many additional cuts in the wood as possible.
damage wood will allow moisture , bacterium , fungi , and insects to embark and break down the stump and root .
7. Once again, feel around the trunk for any additional roots and sever them with the pruning saw.
Do not use the chain saw for this , as you ’ll be reduce into the grime , which may ruin the teeth on the chainsaw blade .
When you ’re confident that all of the roots are severed , backfill the mess and cover the soapbox . Install a unexampled plant in front of or aside the yew dais .
The cuttings from yew shrubs make a terrificmulch , by the way . decent now the branch are covering my unplantedraised garden beds . When I ’m ready to plant , they ’ll be shredded and go to the compost pile .
