Boy, what happy memories you've brought back to me, campanula! Grubbing out stumps is what i used to do many years ago when I was young, invulnerable, and stupid...oops, i meant no reflection on you!!!

I've seen many an old tree left flush cut without any apparent problem later in the garden, aside from subsidence as the roots rot. Fungal infection of other plants may or may not be a problem, I couldn't say. Leaving roots is only an immediate problem if you're going back in to plant - which it sounds like you may be doing.

If you can't get in there with some real equipment - I always preferred a truck and a chain - then you just grit your teeth, sharpen your shovel real well, grab an ax, and take a bunch of ibuprofen, or whatever you can get over the counter in the pharmacy...

On a more serious note - you just never know what the job is going to entail until you get a shovel into the ground. I remember pulling out some huge overgrown yews that had surprising limited root systems. The buddleia, for example, will probably come out pretty easy. But you just never know. That's why I bill such jobs by the labor hour, rather than a bid price.

brian

OMG yep - we also bill by the hour! We are stupidly soft hearted though. Great landscapers, rubbish business people! There is an old tree we can use as a fulcrum (or whatever the word is) and hire a winch. Snapping cables can be grim but a buggered back is grimmer. Ibuprofen LOL! Morphine and strong beer at the very least!

These are shrubs, not trees you are removing, so I think a good pry bar and axe along with sharp digging spades should make this easier than you imagine. Honey fungus is not a problem for many plants, so I would research and avoid sensitive replacement plants if you can.

You could use a Tirfor winch but there is no guarantee that you will pull all the roots out although it will probably make the job easier, make sure you protect the tree you attach the winch to. You will need a mattock and not an axe I doubt there is any danger of honey fungus. A Tirfor winch will break a protection bolt (can't think of the proper name) before you get anywhere near breaking the cable so no worries there. Go over the entire bed with the mattock when you are done before putting a tiller to work. If you are still worried about honey fungus and have the time before replanting you can dowse the area with Jeyes Fluid (stand back it stinks).

thanks inkognito - i have been looking at tirfor winches - we can hire one from our local planthire place so are going to have a go - we will whack about with a bar and mattock first though. Fortunately, there is a concrete path next to the border which we are going to use a breaker on so we are not restricted around the excavation area. I just freaked cos there were so many of them and we are on the tightest budget imaginable so days of digging is not our preferred method.
bahia - on the research case right now - thanks for the advice re.honey fungus.

Actually, if you research the topic long enough you find that there are darned few plants that can be relied upon to resist honey fungus completely. And it is either present on a given site or it is not, nobody thousands of miles away can say whether this row of shrubs has it near them or not. It is the same as fertilization, nobody here has any way to know what the situation is on a site they have not even visited and inspected themselves.

I would not wrap anything cutting around or exert force on the trunk of a tree I wanted to keep in good condition.

It's not worth it to bang dead roots out.

Unless these foster honey fungus which then destroys one or more of your new plants perhaps some time later.

A few years ago I had a prized magnolia many years old pinched off in short order by what could clearly be seen to be Armillaria. Honey fungus decomposes dead plant matter, sometimes does not wait for the plant matter to have died of other causes beforehand.

bboy, you will note that I suggested protecting the tree if the anchor end of the winch was attached to it. Presumably one who works in this field would be aware of the danger involved but sometimes you can't get a truck or similar dead weight close enough without creating more damage than you allude to. Honey fungus will remain in the roots of an effected specimen long after the tree itself has been removed and hence my advice to go over the entire area with a mattock. Have you ever seen the stringy fungus Ron? Armillatox was supposed to cure it and the old lady who did all that study and wrote a book lived in the next village over from me.

So going back to the OP where he says "leaving deadwood in the ground from old roots - will this lead to honey fungus?" depends on whether honey fungus was present in the first place as just leaving some roots in the ground will not cause it: agreed Ron?

Honey fungus is the number one garden disease troubling gardeners, according the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)

Here is a link that might be useful: Top plant diseases