Have I done something really daft??

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by giw12, May 3, 2011.

  1. giw12

    giw12 Apprentice Gardener

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    Evening all

    I'm in a bit of a panic at the mo.....recently had an unwanted cherry tree removed but the tree surgeon forgot to poison it. He said I could drill a few holes round the top and pour salt into the holes and over the cut stump.

    The stump was cut to about 6 feet but isn't visible as there's a couple of large and well established shrubs that hide it. I drilled some holes and got rid of about 500gm of table salt.

    My panic though is that plenty of the salt went tipping down the sides. I didn't think anything of it at the time but now I'm really concerned that I'm going to have some dying shrubs on my hands.

    So, is this quantity of salt enough to kill very mature and large shrubs? It's not rained yet...should I try to sweep the salt out of the soil? Or give it plenty of water to dilute it?? Or, am I worrying about nothing?

    Words of advice would be much appreciated!

    Many thanks

    Gary
     
  2. daitheplant

    daitheplant Total Gardener

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    Using table salt as a stump killer is a new one on me. You don`t say how much salt spilt on the ground though Gary.:dbgrtmb:
     
  3. giw12

    giw12 Apprentice Gardener

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    Evening Dai....probably about 250-350 grammes went on to the soil.

    You reckon it might be OK??
     
  4. daitheplant

    daitheplant Total Gardener

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    If it`s visible on the soil then remove the top inch or so of soil to be on the safe side. A word of warning, the advice you were given was totally wrong, it is now illegal to use something other than a registered pesticide for use on plants or the garden. :dbgrtmb:
     
  5. JWK

    JWK Gardener Staff Member

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    Gary: You need to use a proprietary stump killer to have any effect.

    I can't imagine that small amount of salt would have any effect on the stump or the adjacent plants, just thinking about the amount of salt that gets spread on the roads over winter and it doesn't do any harm to vergeside plants I'm sure. You've nothing to worry about.
     
  6. giw12

    giw12 Apprentice Gardener

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    Thanks for the advice John and Dai...much appreciated.

    I'd get rid of anything visible first thing tomorrow.
     
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