How to Clear Overgrown Volunteer Trees and Brush From Around a House
When a property sits vacant for an extended period of time, landscaping can quickly become difficult to control. Volunteer trees, honeysuckle, vines, brush, and other unwanted vegetation can establish themselves in planting beds and eventually grow large enough to interfere with the appearance and maintenance of the home.
We recently began a two-day cleanup project at a single-family investment property where that exact situation had developed.
The property had been vacant for quite some time, and volunteer trees and brush had taken over many of the decorative planter beds around the house.
When Volunteer Trees Start Taking Over a Property
Volunteer trees are trees that establish themselves without being intentionally planted.
Common examples include Bradford pears, mulberries, and other species that can spread from existing trees or establish from seed in areas where they aren’t wanted.
A volunteer tree may start out as a small seedling that is easy to overlook. Given enough time, however, it can develop into a substantial tree with a trunk, root system, and branches that make removal considerably more involved.
That is what had happened at this investment property.
Bradford pears, mulberries, honeysuckle, and other brush had become established throughout the decorative planting beds. The vegetation wasn’t simply making the landscaping look overgrown—it had become large enough to obscure the home itself.
This Property Needed More Than Routine Trimming
There is an important difference between trimming established landscaping and removing unwanted vegetation that has taken over a property.
Routine trimming can make sense when desirable shrubs or trees simply need to be reduced in size.
That wasn’t the situation here.
The volunteer trees and brush were growing where they were not wanted, and the amount of vegetation had become substantial enough that removing it from the ground up was the more appropriate approach.
Before the work began, portions of the home’s exterior were difficult to see.
The front of the house was heavily obscured. A significant portion of one side was hidden by vegetation, and the back of the two-story house was barely visible.
The goal of the first phase was straightforward: remove the unwanted vegetation and reclaim the areas around the house.
Removing the Vegetation From the Ground Up
During the first day of the project, Big Boy Services removed the volunteer trees, brush, honeysuckle, and other unwanted growth from the decorative planting areas.
The work involved cutting the vegetation down and removing the resulting material rather than simply cutting it back.
That distinction matters.
If unwanted trees and brush are simply cut back without addressing the remaining stumps and root systems, regrowth can become an ongoing problem.
The first day therefore focused on getting the above-ground vegetation removed and clearing the planting areas so the remaining stump work could be addressed separately.
The amount of material was substantial.
We filled two dump trailers with the vegetation removed from the property and hauled the material away.
Why Stump Removal Requires Different Approaches
Once the vegetation is removed, the remaining stumps need to be evaluated individually.
There isn’t necessarily one stump-removal method that works for every stump on a property.
Some stumps are located in open areas where a stump grinder can safely access them. Those are generally good candidates for mechanical stump grinding.
Other stumps can be removed by cutting, digging, and extracting the remaining stump and roots.
However, access and proximity to structures can change the equation.
A stump immediately beside a foundation, concrete driveway, sidewalk, or other structure may not be a good candidate for stump grinding. In some cases, it may also be too large or too close to the structure to safely dig out.
That’s why stump work is often a separate phase of an overgrown-property cleanup.
Where conditions allow, a stump grinder can be used to mechanically grind the stump below the surrounding grade.
This can be an efficient option when there is adequate access and sufficient clearance from structures and hard surfaces.
Cutting and Digging
Some smaller or appropriately positioned stumps can instead be cut and dug out.
This approach can be useful where mechanical grinding isn’t practical but there is enough room to safely expose and remove the stump.
Cutting and Treating
There are also situations where a stump is located too close to a foundation, driveway, sidewalk, or another structure to make mechanical grinding or physical removal practical.
In those situations, the stump may be cut as close to the ground as practical and appropriately treated to help prevent regrowth.
For this project, some of the remaining stumps fall into that category because of their location within the decorative planting areas.
When pesticide treatment is appropriate, it must be performed according to the product label and applicable regulations.
Big Boy Services is a licensed Category 3A Indiana Commercial Pesticide Business (ornamental pest control); Aaron Rader, owner of Big Boy Services, is a licensed Category 3A Indiana Pesticide Applicator.
Why We Submit a Utility Locate Before Stump Work
Before returning to complete the stump work, we submitted the required utility locate request.
This is an important step whenever excavation or equipment work could potentially encounter buried utilities.
Even when a stump appears to be in a straightforward location, underground utilities and other buried infrastructure aren’t always visible from the surface.
The utility locate helps identify marked underground utilities before the next phase of work begins.
For property owners, this is one of those behind-the-scenes steps that may not be visible in a before-and-after video, but it is an important part of planning the job safely.
The Difference a Cleanup Like This Can Make
The easiest way to understand the impact of this type of vegetation removal is to compare the property before and after the work.
We documented several areas around the house before beginning.
Rather than showing all of the “before” footage first and making viewers wait for the results, we edited the video so each before clip is followed immediately by the corresponding after clip.
That makes it easy to see how much vegetation had been hiding the home.
Once the volunteer trees and brush were removed, the exterior of the house became visible again and the decorative planting areas could be addressed properly.
Overgrown Investment Properties Need a Different Approach
For landlords and investment property owners, an overgrown property can become more than an appearance issue.
Vegetation that grows unchecked can:
Hide portions of the structure
Make exterior inspections more difficult
Reduce visibility around the property
Make routine landscaping more difficult
Create additional cleanup work
Allow unwanted trees to become established
Require more involved stump work later
Addressing the problem while the vegetation is still manageable can prevent a small volunteer tree or brush problem from becoming a much larger removal project.
Big Boy Services Can Help Reclaim Overgrown Areas
Big Boy Services provides shrub removal, brush removal, volunteer tree removal, stump work, and related property cleanup.
For this project, the first day focused on removing the substantial amount of unwanted vegetation that had taken over the decorative planting beds around the home.
The second day will focus on the remaining stumps, with the removal method selected based on the location, size, access, and proximity to the home’s foundation and concrete surfaces.
If vegetation has taken over the planting beds around your home, rental property, or investment property, getting the unwanted growth removed can be the first step toward making the property manageable again.
Contact Big Boy Services at (317) 529-6650 to discuss your property cleanup needs.
Project Summary
Project: Overgrown investment property cleanup
Services: Volunteer tree removal, brush removal, honeysuckle removal, vegetation cleanup, stump work
Property type: Single-family investment property
Project scope: Two-day cleanup
Day 1: Removed unwanted trees and brush and hauled away approximately two dump trailers of material
Safety planning: Utility locate submitted before stump work
Service area: North Indianapolis, Carmel, Fishers, Westfield, Noblesville, Geist, and surrounding areas
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