Improving Your Landscaping

Posted on: 28 April 2016

In the natural world, squirrels, chipmunks, mice and even birds transport the seeds of trees to different locations. In your yard, you have probably seen the results of nature at work--trees sprouting up where you did not plant them and saplings growing from the strangest of places (e.g., cracks in the foundation of your garage). If you do not want these trees to remain, you should work fast to remove them. Here are some tips for early tree removal and reasons why tree removal should occur earlier in the stages of growth rather than later.

Pulling up the Sprouts

If you find sometime in mid-spring to early summer that you have some unusual sprouts or tall greenery shooting up out of your yard, pull them. These are probably young trees just beginning to set down roots and they are far easier to remove than trees in the next stages of life. The sprouts should come up just like weeds, although some tree sprouts may need harder pulling than others. By pulling up the sprouts the minute you see them, the earth has time to settle back into place where the sprouting trees were attempting to grow and you will not have to get a spade to dig them up later.

Pulling up Saplings

Saplings are those sprouts you ignored which have now had time to put down some bigger roots. Stay calm and pull out your trusty spade or shovel. There is still time to pull these unwanted young trees out of your yard. Go out on a day when it has been pouring rain and the mud is really soft and squishy. This will help you get a good hold on the saplings' trunks as you attempt to pull them free of the mud. Grab the saplings by their bases and pull with all you have. if the trunks are too rough or slippery, don some work gloves to get a better grip.  The saplings should start to wiggle loose of the mud. If you still need some help, use the spade or shovel to remove some of the mud from around the roots of the tree.

When you pull saplings loose, you prevent them from sending tap roots deep down into the ground. A tap root is the tree's anchor to the earth, and if it does not have a tap root yet or the tap root is diseased or dying, then the tree is easier to remove. If you did not pull the tree sprouts, pull the saplings or it will only get more difficult and more expensive to remove the trees next year.