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Next time I wonder why our 'elites' want to confiscate our homes with yards, and herd us into apartment blocks (Agenda 21), I'll think of this thread. No wonder they consider homeowners to be toxic attackers of the environment.
Herbicides? Dangerous herbicides, just to "deal with" a CONIFER? At first, I thought "Spreading Yew" must be some horrible stoloniferous monster plant, or something which roots wherever its branches touch the ground. But I see yours is just basically a horizontal Juniper.
For heaven's sake! A pruning saw for the main trunk, and pruning shears for the branches and the roots closest to the trunk, should do it. If you can't reach into the soil deeply enough with the pruning shears (after you've removed the top growth), then dig, or wash the soil away from the middle of the root ball with a garden hose.
But even if there is a stump left, it is unlikely the Juniper will return. If it does, then rubbing off any shoots, as they emerge (if they emerge) will do the trick.
Removing a shrub-sized conifer is no big deal at all.
You are getting absolutely INSANE advice regarding this innocuous plant.
From what I understand the roots spread out underground and as they do, it spreads. I don't know how you really stop that. It is spreading too much and continues to spread. From what I understand, they can be very difficult to remove. If it were just a trunk that would be easy, but it's spread out all over the place with sections popping up all over the place other than the main trunk. We have landscape fabric under the river rock to prevent weeds from growing up through it. I have no problem with not using herbicides if I can get rid of it otherwise. I just don't see an easy way to do it. And it started out shrub-sized; now it's overtaking the rock garden. It's shrub height, but not shrub width.
Are you saying that its sending up new growth through the landscape fabric? If so, I think you must have something other than a juniper.
A juniper can be managed as GrandviewGloria suggests, especially this time of the year, since you would normally trim or prune in the fall. You could just cut it back to the ground every year and keep it very compact, although it sounds like it is very happy in its spot and still might grow enough to need trimming.
I wouldn't risk my other plantings until I had tried heavy pruning, even though it most likely won't be a pleasant job. If you use roundup, taking out the dead plant will be even worse.
Are you saying that its sending up new growth through the landscape fabric? If so, I think you must have something other than a juniper.
A juniper can be managed as GrandviewGloria suggests, especially this time of the year, since you would normally trim or prune in the fall. You could just cut it back to the ground every year and keep it very compact, although it sounds like it is very happy in its spot and still might grow enough to need trimming.
I wouldn't risk my other plantings until I had tried heavy pruning, even though it most likely won't be a pleasant job. If you use roundup, taking out the dead plant will be even worse.
Yes, it is sending up new growth through the landscape fabric, but I was pretty sure it was a juniper. I could be wrong.
This thread reminds me why I always tell people the time to research plant care is before it goes in the ground. The description for that particular juniper in most resources is it grows about 5 feet tall and has a spread (single plant) of 8 feet. That is hardly appropriate for a rock garden planting at all. The picture is of a slope planted with recent small shrubs and will be completely green within a year.
GrandviewGloria you should have been around for the people with the reverse agenda, and all the "beliefs" that don't include any rational thought based on some real science. I get whiplash between the kill everything groups and the 'I am an enlightened and superior being because anyone using anything remotely related to Monsanto is a devil worshiper'. It seems common sense and a little basic know-how are optional more often than not.
Back to the problem at hand.
Junipers do not "multiply" from the roots and the roots generally reach the drip line of the shrub/tree. This is the area at the widest growth on the surface. In other words the roots don't reach any further than the plant branches do. Whatever you planted that is coming up sounds like an invasive plant not a yew or a juniper. Maybe the best thing to do is find out what you really have. You can start by posting some pictures. In focus ones are best. One closeup of the leaves/needles will help and one of the whole shrub/plant in place with a size reference like a ruler next to or on it. If there is an obvious "sprout" coming up by itself take a picture of it, too. From there we can ask questions and figure out what it is that is spreading and what you can do about it. Hopefully we can accomplish all that in a rational manner and not get into another big fight about use of herbicides in the garden.
What we thought we were buying was a plant that would remain compact. Maybe it was mislabeled. Obviously it wasn't what we thought it was. We did look at the information that came with the plant, as we did with everything else we planted, and would not have planted it there if we had known it was going to spread like it has. We haven't had a problem with anything else we planted taking over the whole rock garden like this.
We put a yew in our rock garden a couple of years ago. It has spread a LOT and has spread out a lot more than we wanted. Didn't know it would spread so fast. I can see it overtaking the whole rock garden in 10 years at the rate it's going. We have a very small red Japanese Maple next to it and I would spray the yew with Roundup if I didn't think it would kill the Japanese maple too.
Why are you concerned about Roundup killing the Japanese maple? It can only kill it if you hit it with the chemical. Roundup does not migrate into the soil. It only can work through plant foliage. So you can be extra careful with the sprayer, or you can cover the maple with a tarp while you spray.
What we thought we were buying was a plant that would remain compact. Maybe it was mislabeled. Obviously it wasn't what we thought it was. We did look at the information that came with the plant, as we did with everything else we planted, and would not have planted it there if we had known it was going to spread like it has. We haven't had a problem with anything else we planted taking over the whole rock garden like this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by luzianne
Never mind.
I'm sorry you feel that way, at least some of the answers here were meant to be helpful. It's been very frustrating giving you any help so far. Neither of the plants you named behave in the way you have described. The label on the plant may have been wrong but even accurate labels only carry a fraction of the information you may need. This is why I tell people they need to ask questions and research the plant before it gets planted, this wasn't a slam against you or what you planted.
There is no way for anyone here to give you rational advice specific to what you have beside general answers. I completely understand that you are not experienced in gardening and names of plants, we all have to start somewhere. Unfortunately your changing names for the shrub did not help. It's like going into a cooking forum and tell everyone you are having trouble steaming an egg to the right consistency for a special dish and then when someone points out what you are describing isn't cooked that way you come back and say well, I researched it and I think it really is a potato - now that you mention it- and oh the outer layers are tough and fibrous. The next person will either tell you to keep cooking it until it is soft or that you are not describing a potato or egg and it sounds more like an onion and that gets cooked with oil. You still don't know how to cook it because no one knows what it is, even if they pretend they know what they are talking about. I'm being honest; I can't tell what your "food" is without some pictures.
In all seriousness, I've been answering questions on gardening for years, both on a hot line and in person (and have heard lots of problems) but I can't begin to help you without some real info to go on. There are weeds and plants that do not succumb to herbicides easily or that need other methods to curb their growth.
Tina is right about how RoundUp and other similar herbicides work. You can sit and painstakingly paint each leaf and branch of whatever the plant is with the herbicide or you can tarp and protect the tree as a precaution and spray from the normal sprayer. Working on a calm day always helps prevent it from landing on things you don't want to kill.
There were a couple of helpful posts. The tone of the others was condescending, assuming that: 1) I am evil for wanting to use a herbicide to kill a plant, and/or 2) I am stupid and just bought any old plants without any thought on their future growth (on the contrary, our rock garden was VERY well thought out and except for this one plant, looks wonderful) and just stuck random plants in the ground, and/or 3) I am not capable of deciding whether I want to eradicate the plant and I should just prune because that is what someone here thinks I should do.
Now I'm not experienced in gardening or the names of plants. I'm not sure what THIS plant is, because it clearly is not what we thought we were buying. I have lived in the same house for 27 years so I am not a novice, thank you very much. But I have never needed to use Roundup or tried to get rid of a plant before this one. When nearly every answer (but not all of them) was condescending or critical or insulting, I decided to ask for advice elsewhere. I didn't come here to be attacked. Hence, "never mind."
Actually, I misspoke. It's not a yew at all. it's a juniper. It's only a couple of years old. It's not that it has grown UP, it spreads out horizontally. From what I understand, the roots grow out horizontally underground. It's not tall at all, it's just growing outward and filling up more and more of the rock garden. We thought it would spread some, but now it has spread more than we want. I don't think you can curb that by simply pruning it.
Okay, that sounds more like it. I had never heard of a spreading yew. I know what you mean about the junipers. They don't spread by stolons or rhizomes, though. They just grow and grow off the main trunk. Unlike yews, if you cut a juniper back very very hard to the main trunk, it won't want to grow back. So you might try a massive and extreme haircut before you do anything else. I cut all the topgrowth off a juniper a few years ago, and the rootball is still there, barely visible, doing nothing but decomposing.
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I'm not sure what THIS plant is, because it clearly is not what we thought we were buying. I have lived in the same house for 27 years so I am not a novice, thank you very much. But I have never needed to use Roundup or tried to get rid of a plant before this one. When nearly every answer (but not all of them) was condescending or critical or insulting, I decided to ask for advice elsewhere. I didn't come here to be attacked. Hence, "never mind."
