Planting After Stump Grind

Hello

I had the sycamore in my garden felled today and the stump has been ground out. Still feeling a bit sad about it as I hate to see trees cut down but advice all round seemed to be it was too big a tree for my 40 ft garden and as it was already bigger than it was three years ago (see photo) when I last had it pruned I decided to have it taken out. (Can you tell I'm still trying to justify it to myself).

ANYWAY - I want to replant but on reading online advice it sounds as if only grass and flowers are viable option. What I really want to do is buy an Amelanchier Lamarckii and put that in the approximate spot of the old tree. Would this be daft for the health of the new tree?

Any advice? There is of course, quite a lot of sawdust about. I've read you can use it as a mulch around the garden - has anyone done this?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Chi

 

Hi Chi! The most likely problems with re-planting straight away are poor soil (the sycamore will have depleted the soil of humus and it will be full of roots) and the risk of fungus infection as all those roots slowly decompose. If you're prepared to dig out a big hole, take out as many roots as possible and then improve the soil, you might get away with it!

 

Hi Noisette and Shiney Thanks for your replies and advice, both very helpful. I'm going to investigate the site more tomorrow to see whether I feel able to dig out enough room - and then see how much compost I'm going to need to fill it!

Whoa, Shiney - I thought I had a lot of sawdust to contend with!! Hope you have fun choosing what to put in.

 

Rather than just replace with compost (which will sink as it breaks down), you could either get some topsoil to fill the hole (and potentially mix with compost) or else take soil from elsewhere in the garden and fill the hole. I don't mean dig a big hole elsewhere, but depending on how much border you have, take some from several different places and replace with compost.