reusing old conifer stumps
djjjuk
Posts: 211
Hi,
at my dads house, he has a border surrounded by brickwork within which some big conifers used to be (they were around house height, maybe bigger). he has chopped these down a while back as the roots completely came through the tarmac drive.
his house sits right next to a main road, so digging them up is probably not a good idea, for that reason but also to save him having to redo his drive.
i was wondering if there was any way of doing something useful and creative with these stumps. i will try and get a photo if i can to help but wont be able to upload that til later on.
i can plant stuff between the stumps, preferably something that would add screen as privacy is now lost on the main road which was definitely a feature.
any ideas? i know its difficult to provide much without photos to see, but hopefully someone somewhere has had a similar situation and made the most of it somehow 
Posts
Sorry not much help from me. The only time I have used conifer "stumps" and they weren't still in the ground, was when we had three cut down. We used the logs as seats, and stood some under an old apple tree and put pots on them. They soon rotted. Maybe the stumps will rot quickly. Can't think of a use for them.
When you have the pictures showing the height of the stumps etc I'm sure folks on here will have loads of ideas for you.
Hi - hopefully attached are some pics of the stumps and the surrounding area. see what you think?
Verdun says conifers contain a tar oil, they are certainly well preserved by it. Other stumps here are rotting away but a large conifer shows no sign of rot after at least 10 years. A row of stumps I pass regularly has been there even longer.
Your say's suggestion of drilling holes in it would make it rot more quickly and be useful to insects as it goes.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Verdun, we don't have any tools to do that at his house. he had someone come and cut them down around a year ago, and whoever did it had said he couldnt cut them down any further as he didnt have a sharp enough tool to do it with!
after speaking with him last night, he would like some predominantly evergreen hedging put in. ive not much knowledge of hedging (well, one could argue most other areas of planting aswell!
) so going to do a bit of research into that. off the top of my head, something like Holly/Ilex along with one or two deciduous - maybe a Hawthorn/Cratageus, Cotoneaster? it would be nice to plant bird friendly hedging although with them being next to the main road (one is to the side, just off it with a fence backing) would they be used?
any advice would be great.
so after thinking about this it would make sense to attempt to clear the site first of all grass, weeds and crap before then re-assessing how much actual space is available. its kind of hard to tell at the minute.
taking your advice then Verdun i can dig around the stump and try and break the roots up. in the meantime as you say inbetween i can plant some quick growing 'placeholder' shrubs or even throw a load of annuals in there. at least then i can clear them at season end. hopefully with then as removing as much of the stump as possible ill have more space and more of a blank canvas area to work with.
I fastened a basket onto a conifer stump we cut down several years ago. I fill it with plants every year, looks good. We cut a conifer down last year and wedged a hanging basket between the stumps as these were not as thick. Just an idea if you don't want to dig them out.