HELP! Weedwhacker bark removal = dead bushes/trees?

[odd_duck99]

Ok. I moved, and the landscaping crew is butchering my yard/killing me from afar. I am almost homicidal. Before I go ape-**** I need to make sure I am not wrong and going to look stupid!

They weedwhacked RIGHT up to my blueberries, lilac bush and whatever else. They have stripped the bark all the way around. Will this kill my bushes? How deep does it have to be to kill them? They are not old or terribly established - 2-3 years in the ground, and not very big. I don't have pictures or first hand knowledge, as I am in a different damn state.

 

[Denim Deb]

If the bark is gone all the way around, unless the tree is able to overcome this, it will kill them. That's known as girdling. Here's some more info on it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girdling

 

[Mr.Andersson]

Sorry for your loss. Without seeing it, from what you describe, it would be a death sentence. Hindsight is 20/20, you probably realize that you should have mulched, fabric first. Lawn cutters aren't the brightest tools in the shed. Maybe you could talk the lawnscalper into this, since they did damage them. If not 100% damadged, some may recover. Sorry

 

[odd_duck99]

Sorry for your loss. Without seeing it, from what you describe, it would be a death sentence. Hindsight is 20/20, you probably realize that you should have mulched, fabric first. Lawn cutters aren't the brightest tools in the shed. Maybe you could talk the lawnscalper into this, since they did damage them. If not 100% damadged, some may recover. Sorry

They were mulched around, but the grass had gone about a month w/o being cut as we were moving. Then the landscapers blew us off for another week and a half. THEN they didn't cut all of the yard, and I had to send them a nasty email to get them to go fix it. THEN THEY TRIED TO KILL MY PLANTS! So angry. The people I am paying to care for my plants are frigging trying to murder them. It's like discovering you let a maniac watch your kid while you went 200 miles away.

 

[Mr.Andersson]

Why on earth would anyone come that close to any plant, with a weedwackker? i'd fire that moron, if he worked for me. The weedwacker operator, that is. I hope things start getting better for you.

 

[~gd]

I suggest that you get the damage evaluated by a third and a forth party. one should be a master gardener [title grsnted by the Cooperative Extension Service, every US county has an office] They can serve as a nutral party, and another paid landscaper who can give you a dollar estimate of the cost to fix your problem(s) Then take the moron to small claims court! If you paid the moron he must have some assets that you can claim after getting a judgement against him. Often they will make things right if you only threathen to take such action, ~gd

 

[odd_duck99]

I suggest that you get the damage evaluated by a third and a forth party. one should be a master gardener [title grsnted by the Cooperative Extension Service, every US county has an office] They can serve as a nutral party, and another paid landscaper who can give you a dollar estimate of the cost to fix your problem(s) Then take the moron to small claims court! If you paid the moron he must have some assets that you can claim after getting a judgement against him. Often they will make things right if you only threathen to take such action, ~gd

Great advice! Thank you!

 

[2dream]

I feel your pain. I am watching my not very established blueberry bushes right now. My stepson took it upon hisself to send a crew to cut my grass. So very sweet of him because he did not want me cutting grass in this heat. They cut down my rasberry bushes, my thornless blackberries, and stripped the bark off of my blueberrys. He offered to replace my plants. I explained to him I will be dead or to old to care before I would see the fruits of the replacements. I hate for anyone else to cut my yard. Years worth of flowers GONE. Years of work on fruiting plants GONE. And saddest part of all, years worth of medicinal plants GONE.
Had I been at home when they showed up - I would have run them off with a shotgun.

 

[so lucky]

You have to have a license before you can charge to cut somebody's hair--Why shouldn't you have to have a license (and proof of training) before you are allowed to butcher somebody's landscaped yard and garden? Where's the interfering government when you need them???

 

[~gd]

I feel your pain. I am watching my not very established blueberry bushes right now. My stepson took it upon hisself to send a crew to cut my grass. So very sweet of him because he did not want me cutting grass in this heat. They cut down my rasberry bushes, my thornless blackberries, and stripped the bark off of my blueberrys. He offered to replace my plants. I explained to him I will be dead or to old to care before I would see the fruits of the replacements. I hate for anyone else to cut my yard. Years worth of flowers GONE. Years of work on fruiting plants GONE. And saddest part of all, years worth of medicinal plants GONE.
Had I been at home when they showed up - I would have run them off with a shotgun.

I don't know about blue berries, the small ones I bought just because I liked the way the plants looked had fruit the second year and the birds got most of them. raspberry and blackberries usually bear fruit on the second year canes and usually will come back from the roots so don't give up on them. It sounds to me that the real great loss were your medicinal plants some take years to become established. I feel your pain but I am 79 and still planting.