How to Remove Shrubbery

Overview

Whether a shrub has outgrown its space, has become diseased or just requires too much maintenance, it may need to be removed. Small shrubs are easily removed with a little effort and the right tools. Larger shrubs may require a team effort but can be successfully removed from a landscape as well.

Step 1

Trim the shrub's foliage and branches with a pair of loopers. Leave enough of the stem to serve as a handle when later lifting the shrub. Use a shovel to dig a trench, about 1 to 2 feet deep, around the shrub's crown. Dig and remove the soil that surrounds the shrub.

Step 2

Place the shovel under the shrub's root ball and pry it up. Remove as much soil as possible from the root ball. Replant the shrub in a new site or properly dispose of the root ball and foliage. As an alternative to disposal, run the roots and foliage through a chipper and add it to your compost pile, provided the shrub was not diseased.

Step 3

Clean the tools used to remove the shrubbery to prevent cross-contaminating other plants or shrubs, if disease is an issue. Fill the empty site with soil. Use fresh material to avoid the possibility of passing a disease or other destructive microorganisms to future plantings.