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Southwestern Gardening

Remove Oleanders with stump grinder or ???

11 years ago

I have a 150' row of mature Oleanders that are dying from leaf scorch that separate my Southern California house from a freeway. I want to replace them with something that grows very fast and thick with full sun and minimal watering. I think I've settled on Hopseed bush (Dodonaea Viscosa) but I'm concerned on how I should remove and prep the area. Most companies I've contacted say they'll use stump grinders. I'm concerned that this won't remove enough of the root and that the new plantings will have a poor growth environment. Should I push to find a backhoe or other means of doing this, or is the grinder a satisfactory method? Any better choices than Dodonaea? Any thoughts on this project are really appreciated!

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Fascist_Nation
11 years ago
Oleanders are usually removed by digging down 6 feet with a back hoe to prevent their growing back. Then monitoring for the few roots missed that will pop back up. But since your oleanders are dying, I'd just plant over them if you have taken them down to the ground. They will decomp in place providing an area for your new planting roots to push in and the claims of allelopathic effect of oleanders are unsubstantiated and having observed oleanders for decades I have never seen any such effect. They are quite toxic to people though.
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