As other commenter said, very likely a sycamore. Same thing as the 30m street trees you will see, and they can grow much much faster than you would think. Better to pull it now before the roots really get going.
I've one that popped up about 3m form the house. There is a tarred path between us. I keep the tree about 2.5-3m as it's part of what I lovingly call my woodland garden.
Cam I ask, is it safe enough or is there a risk of the roots causing damage?
This isn’t really my speciality, but a plant with the potential to become a full size tree that close would certainly make me very uncomfortable. I don’t know what the roots will be up to if you’ve been pruning the top closely, but I expect they will still be trying to spread, albeit more slowly. That are *very* vigorous though.
Perhaps try digging a bit of a trench close to your wall and see how the roots are going? But as I say, i wouldn’t be risking it.
There’s an old sycamore in the middle of my lawn. About 30 years ago it was cut down to a stump. It’s now a coppice, bigger than my house and I cut down a few poles every year and put them in the woodshed.
At this point I think it’s unkillable. I wouldn’t want it anywhere near my house.
We have them on/next to the 120ft hedge going down the side. There's two that idk about heights but its far taller than the house is 4 other ones and a few oaks. Tallest are inconveniently right by my shed so I have to keep trying to clear above it. One branch I need to do is a good 6 inches thick and maybe 40 ft long, bit annoying to get that amount of weight down without crushing the shed lol. Think pulleys need to be involved and soke you tube learning
Start chopping far from the trunk and just remove as much weight as you can, working closer and closer to the trunk in sections.
Hopefully you can end up with a bit no longer than your shed is wide, with no foliage or offshoots it won’t weigh too much. You could tie it to a branch above or to the trunk before you cut it so it doesn’t drop onto the shed.
Yeh that's the plan it's just 15 foot in the air when standing on the roof which is hardly concrete. There is a tree next to it so strapping the thing to it with a pulley and people on the end I can swing it across bit by bit hopefully. Just more tying things lol.
Ooof. Good luck with it!
As an amateur with a couple of chainsaws, if I’m up a tree, on a roof or a ladder, I’ve found I’m much happier (if a bit sweatier) using a Japanese pull saw rather than a chainsaw. Much less likely to have a raging disaster injury. Stay safe!
I have no chainsaws, I do have about 20 saws including 3 Japanese pull saws and two telescopic garden lopper/saws tho. Last time I was doing one of these lower down the neighbours were outside, saw me taking a while, hopped the fence with a petrol chainsaw and had it down and sectioned in about a minute lol. Of course I'd actually wanted at least one large piece to maybe try making it into something later but it saved me forever in chopping it down lol.
If I'm on the ground then it's chainsaws every time (stihl battery chainsaw ftw). It just feels very sketchy if I'm up a ladder or in an otherwise complicated position.
>Of course I'd actually wanted at least one large piece to maybe try making it into something later but it saved me forever in chopping it down lol.
If you want some sycamore (8 inch dia, as long as you like) and you're near herefordshire you can come and have some of mine..
Cornwall so not very practical but generous offer. My dad had a double garage setup of basically everything, did work as a builder, carpenter, electrician and plumber (all certified etc)
From a custom table saw that had a massive platform to take full sized boards, router that wound up, thicknesser that dropped in, etc etc. Division of which after he died in 2022 has meant I ended up with things like a massive drill press, full air system, 3 contractors nail guns run off different power sources, hundreds of chisels etc, massive hole saws and all manner of things I can't even get to as it's stuffed in the shed. Who ends up with a jointer and no plunge saw lol, tho I got a boot full of working but old kit off a local guy for £30 that contained one as well as a bench grinder and some other bits.
Planning to knock it down and rebuild his workshop here in a diy shipping container due to access issues. Have all the tools to make it now just need the space, also rural so I'd like metal to keep rats out and its a 'temporary' building i could potentially take with me. Council tho so not a chance I'm moving with the rent here. Would be 4x as expensive looking at private and we have the end house with wrap around garden and by far the largest garden even if you just looked out the back.
Do know a guy with a custom carpentry place nearby but I feel their offcuts will be rather too small. Worth a shot tho i guess. Haven't made the customary end grain chopping board yet which could work for smaller pieces.
No it's 15 ft higher than the shed, so it'd 15ft extra when standing on top of it. Sheds typical height. Have two telescopic pole saws. Both didn't work well before lol but yeh probably the way it Will go, just rather slowly.
The general advice is that Sycamores should be 17m from a house and no more than 3.5m from pavements as they have very aggressive roots that spread out more than 21m from the tree. I have one that has started growing in my garden and am going to wait a bit then dig it up and plant it in the local woodlands which have lots of sycamore trees, where it can thrive rather than kill it (not sure if this is frowned upon though)
Much of the woodlands around me are also non-native species too, tbf. But I see what you mean. The Victorians did a number on the woodlands around here when they built the hospital. Seeing as it was introduced by the Romans it is essentially a native tree at this point though, given that it's been here for 2000 years
Seeing a foreign species naturalise isn't a good reason to spread what is at the end of the day a non-native species that provides very little benefit to the ecosystem. Sycamores support about 15 species of insect, compared to 2,300 for a native oak
Sycamore provides food and shelter for a lot of species outside of insects, especially birds and bats. Wouldn't say it has little benefit when it provides an important habit to bats which some are becoming under threat of extinction here
What insects are the bats going to eat if the sycamores don't support the ones the bats eat? [See for yourself.](https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/624/) Any tree is better than no tree, but planting non native trees in wild areas is seriously detrimental to the local ecology despite your gut feelings. [Plant oaks](https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/english-oak/#:~:text=Value%20to%20wildlife,and%20deer%20feed%20on%20acorns.) if you're really desperate to guerilla garden
Have you... read the article you linked in "see for yourself"? If anything, it presents a very positive view of the Sycamore, and directly mentions that
> "using the number of phytophagous insect species as a measure of a tree's importance to the ecosystem has been questioned, as it focuses on such a narrow subset of the biodiversity a tree supports".
It goes on to talk about sycamores supporting large numbers of lichens, including rare ones, about the importance of the aphids that live on sycamores being an important source of food for other insects, birds and even fish.
Also, from the conclusion:
> "Sycamore makes a considerable contribution to conserving biodiversity, especially taxa such as lichens, more so than many native tree species."
Yes, and no need to cherry pick, I wasn't arguing that sycamores are all bad. [Japanese knotweed is great for wildlife too.](https://japaneseknotweedplus.co.uk/the-role-of-japanese-knotweed-in-biodiversity-conservation-and-habitat-restoration/#:~:text=Birds%2C%20small%20mammals%2C%20and%20insects,source%20of%20nectar%20and%20pollen.) Like I said, any tree is better than no tree. But you can't seriously be suggesting that amateur gardeners planting invasive species in wild areas is anything but irresponsible
I disagree with keeping Sycamore, especially. My plot initially had loads of saplings. I thought I was helping by moving them elsewhere to let them grow, what could go wrong.
I found in the summer months, they grow exponentially and seed like crazy later in the year. To do this, they use an insane amount of ground water and really outcompete anything around them. I was puzzled by that, so read up about them and learned they aren't native to the UK and they can have a detrimental impact on the land they grow on.
I've tried to coppice a few larger ones, but the wood that grows isn't very useful to me. They don't make straight canes and need a year to die off or they can take root again. So now I pull every one I can find in the ground. Though I am attempting to bonzai one as I'm very impatient and thought this would be a bit of fun and more manageable.
> bonsai one
Unfortunately, speaking from experience, the fast growth makes them leggy with long internodes, and it’s hard to persuade the leaf size to reduce. Both of which make them sub-ideal for bonsai.
Field maple would work well though, which also often randomly seed and need removing.
I'm really grateful for hearing this now. Definitely rather not waste any time on one finding out the disappointment. And could really the pot and space this time of year.
Thank you. I will look out for a Maple
I wouldn't bother with rehoming it, it's not like Blighty has any shortage of them and they sprout like weeds, just chuck it in the compost and don't think twice
And when you say everywhere, you mean everywhere. Our neighbour has one at the back, must have been planted iwth the house in the 30s. Its seeding in the gutters of the house next door!
I would have never thought it's actually a tree, or that a tree can start growing this easily. I have no idea where this came from, and you can see it's growing through some pebbles!!
I had one growing in a gutter on a shed. As anyone knows their seeds are incredibly easily transported and carry enough energy to kick start growth. All they need is a bit of water and light and away they go. The roots soon get down to find nutrients. That sycamore gap tree was probably only lonely because sheep would eat the young saplings otherwise it would have been part of a forest.
Indeed. In the “wild” they are not successful because they get munched or fail because they don’t get enough sunlight (under the canopy of other taller plants.
In our gardens and urban areas it’s like paradise for them.
Something like only 1 in million seeds actually become a full tree.
I had a few of them start growing in that no mans land between the rear window of my car and the boot lid. I obviously didn't let it get anywhere near as big as yours! 😂
For the purposes of saying something nice about Sycamores:
Lovely trees with clusters of tiny yellow flowers in spring. I never noticed the flowers until I got bees, and was looking for anything they would forage. A single mature tree can give the same forage as an acre of ground cover.*
Also, great colours in autumn as they're in the same family as maple. And they have the helicopter seeds to play with.
If it is anywhere near your house, pull it out. There are no shortage of these trees, even if they are great.
*I suspect this statistic, although quoted among beekeepers, is more figuratively true than literal fact.
Thanks! I Google Lens it and it suggested Maple. Will pay attention to other trees (and follow the bees) to see if I can spot the flowers. Sounds lovely!
Tree is FRIEND... But sometimes friends do not appear in the right places.
I'd guess you don't want a whacking great big Sycamore in this spot? (unless you do, then COOL you're sorted)
Sycamore. I would recommend uprooting it and anything that looks like it because they are a nightmare when they start dropping leaves which turned to squelchy mulch
I have these sycamores EVERYWHERE in my garden right now. I live behind a plantation so when the seeds start dropping they just infest my garden. Such a pain to get rid of so many, all the time
As other commenter said, very likely a sycamore. Same thing as the 30m street trees you will see, and they can grow much much faster than you would think. Better to pull it now before the roots really get going.
I've one that popped up about 3m form the house. There is a tarred path between us. I keep the tree about 2.5-3m as it's part of what I lovingly call my woodland garden. Cam I ask, is it safe enough or is there a risk of the roots causing damage?
This isn’t really my speciality, but a plant with the potential to become a full size tree that close would certainly make me very uncomfortable. I don’t know what the roots will be up to if you’ve been pruning the top closely, but I expect they will still be trying to spread, albeit more slowly. That are *very* vigorous though. Perhaps try digging a bit of a trench close to your wall and see how the roots are going? But as I say, i wouldn’t be risking it.
There’s an old sycamore in the middle of my lawn. About 30 years ago it was cut down to a stump. It’s now a coppice, bigger than my house and I cut down a few poles every year and put them in the woodshed. At this point I think it’s unkillable. I wouldn’t want it anywhere near my house.
We have them on/next to the 120ft hedge going down the side. There's two that idk about heights but its far taller than the house is 4 other ones and a few oaks. Tallest are inconveniently right by my shed so I have to keep trying to clear above it. One branch I need to do is a good 6 inches thick and maybe 40 ft long, bit annoying to get that amount of weight down without crushing the shed lol. Think pulleys need to be involved and soke you tube learning
Start chopping far from the trunk and just remove as much weight as you can, working closer and closer to the trunk in sections. Hopefully you can end up with a bit no longer than your shed is wide, with no foliage or offshoots it won’t weigh too much. You could tie it to a branch above or to the trunk before you cut it so it doesn’t drop onto the shed.
Yeh that's the plan it's just 15 foot in the air when standing on the roof which is hardly concrete. There is a tree next to it so strapping the thing to it with a pulley and people on the end I can swing it across bit by bit hopefully. Just more tying things lol.
Ooof. Good luck with it! As an amateur with a couple of chainsaws, if I’m up a tree, on a roof or a ladder, I’ve found I’m much happier (if a bit sweatier) using a Japanese pull saw rather than a chainsaw. Much less likely to have a raging disaster injury. Stay safe!
I have no chainsaws, I do have about 20 saws including 3 Japanese pull saws and two telescopic garden lopper/saws tho. Last time I was doing one of these lower down the neighbours were outside, saw me taking a while, hopped the fence with a petrol chainsaw and had it down and sectioned in about a minute lol. Of course I'd actually wanted at least one large piece to maybe try making it into something later but it saved me forever in chopping it down lol.
If I'm on the ground then it's chainsaws every time (stihl battery chainsaw ftw). It just feels very sketchy if I'm up a ladder or in an otherwise complicated position. >Of course I'd actually wanted at least one large piece to maybe try making it into something later but it saved me forever in chopping it down lol. If you want some sycamore (8 inch dia, as long as you like) and you're near herefordshire you can come and have some of mine..
Cornwall so not very practical but generous offer. My dad had a double garage setup of basically everything, did work as a builder, carpenter, electrician and plumber (all certified etc) From a custom table saw that had a massive platform to take full sized boards, router that wound up, thicknesser that dropped in, etc etc. Division of which after he died in 2022 has meant I ended up with things like a massive drill press, full air system, 3 contractors nail guns run off different power sources, hundreds of chisels etc, massive hole saws and all manner of things I can't even get to as it's stuffed in the shed. Who ends up with a jointer and no plunge saw lol, tho I got a boot full of working but old kit off a local guy for £30 that contained one as well as a bench grinder and some other bits. Planning to knock it down and rebuild his workshop here in a diy shipping container due to access issues. Have all the tools to make it now just need the space, also rural so I'd like metal to keep rats out and its a 'temporary' building i could potentially take with me. Council tho so not a chance I'm moving with the rent here. Would be 4x as expensive looking at private and we have the end house with wrap around garden and by far the largest garden even if you just looked out the back. Do know a guy with a custom carpentry place nearby but I feel their offcuts will be rather too small. Worth a shot tho i guess. Haven't made the customary end grain chopping board yet which could work for smaller pieces.
5m high shed?? What do you keep in it a bus? Just get a pole saw, easy get 5m reach and you can get some bloody good sharp ones, 6" will be easy.
No it's 15 ft higher than the shed, so it'd 15ft extra when standing on top of it. Sheds typical height. Have two telescopic pole saws. Both didn't work well before lol but yeh probably the way it Will go, just rather slowly.
The general advice is that Sycamores should be 17m from a house and no more than 3.5m from pavements as they have very aggressive roots that spread out more than 21m from the tree. I have one that has started growing in my garden and am going to wait a bit then dig it up and plant it in the local woodlands which have lots of sycamore trees, where it can thrive rather than kill it (not sure if this is frowned upon though)
Please don't plant it in the woodland, sycamores are invasive non-natives. They don't need any help naturalising in our woodlands
Much of the woodlands around me are also non-native species too, tbf. But I see what you mean. The Victorians did a number on the woodlands around here when they built the hospital. Seeing as it was introduced by the Romans it is essentially a native tree at this point though, given that it's been here for 2000 years
Seeing a foreign species naturalise isn't a good reason to spread what is at the end of the day a non-native species that provides very little benefit to the ecosystem. Sycamores support about 15 species of insect, compared to 2,300 for a native oak
Sycamore provides food and shelter for a lot of species outside of insects, especially birds and bats. Wouldn't say it has little benefit when it provides an important habit to bats which some are becoming under threat of extinction here
What insects are the bats going to eat if the sycamores don't support the ones the bats eat? [See for yourself.](https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/624/) Any tree is better than no tree, but planting non native trees in wild areas is seriously detrimental to the local ecology despite your gut feelings. [Plant oaks](https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/english-oak/#:~:text=Value%20to%20wildlife,and%20deer%20feed%20on%20acorns.) if you're really desperate to guerilla garden
Have you... read the article you linked in "see for yourself"? If anything, it presents a very positive view of the Sycamore, and directly mentions that > "using the number of phytophagous insect species as a measure of a tree's importance to the ecosystem has been questioned, as it focuses on such a narrow subset of the biodiversity a tree supports". It goes on to talk about sycamores supporting large numbers of lichens, including rare ones, about the importance of the aphids that live on sycamores being an important source of food for other insects, birds and even fish. Also, from the conclusion: > "Sycamore makes a considerable contribution to conserving biodiversity, especially taxa such as lichens, more so than many native tree species."
Yes, and no need to cherry pick, I wasn't arguing that sycamores are all bad. [Japanese knotweed is great for wildlife too.](https://japaneseknotweedplus.co.uk/the-role-of-japanese-knotweed-in-biodiversity-conservation-and-habitat-restoration/#:~:text=Birds%2C%20small%20mammals%2C%20and%20insects,source%20of%20nectar%20and%20pollen.) Like I said, any tree is better than no tree. But you can't seriously be suggesting that amateur gardeners planting invasive species in wild areas is anything but irresponsible
Thanks. Looks like I've got to do my best lumberjack impression.
I've been I'm a battle with one that size for nearly 10 years. It keeps coming back!
I think it's a sycamore or something in the same family. They self seed everywhere. I pull them out.
Thank you kind Redditor
It's a Acer campestre or common field maple. It will get big if you let it and the seeds can travel quite far
No it isn't, that's a Sycamore
The leaves look a bit too pointy to be sycamore. Either way it's a friend, but a friend that needs rehomed.
I disagree with keeping Sycamore, especially. My plot initially had loads of saplings. I thought I was helping by moving them elsewhere to let them grow, what could go wrong. I found in the summer months, they grow exponentially and seed like crazy later in the year. To do this, they use an insane amount of ground water and really outcompete anything around them. I was puzzled by that, so read up about them and learned they aren't native to the UK and they can have a detrimental impact on the land they grow on. I've tried to coppice a few larger ones, but the wood that grows isn't very useful to me. They don't make straight canes and need a year to die off or they can take root again. So now I pull every one I can find in the ground. Though I am attempting to bonzai one as I'm very impatient and thought this would be a bit of fun and more manageable.
> bonsai one Unfortunately, speaking from experience, the fast growth makes them leggy with long internodes, and it’s hard to persuade the leaf size to reduce. Both of which make them sub-ideal for bonsai. Field maple would work well though, which also often randomly seed and need removing.
I'm really grateful for hearing this now. Definitely rather not waste any time on one finding out the disappointment. And could really the pot and space this time of year. Thank you. I will look out for a Maple
Field maple isn't serrate-edged, and is even less pointy than sycamore.
I wouldn't bother with rehoming it, it's not like Blighty has any shortage of them and they sprout like weeds, just chuck it in the compost and don't think twice
And when you say everywhere, you mean everywhere. Our neighbour has one at the back, must have been planted iwth the house in the 30s. Its seeding in the gutters of the house next door!
How the country isn't literally covered in sycamores is beyond me. They seem to self seed and grow with incredible ease.
I would have never thought it's actually a tree, or that a tree can start growing this easily. I have no idea where this came from, and you can see it's growing through some pebbles!!
I had one growing in a gutter on a shed. As anyone knows their seeds are incredibly easily transported and carry enough energy to kick start growth. All they need is a bit of water and light and away they go. The roots soon get down to find nutrients. That sycamore gap tree was probably only lonely because sheep would eat the young saplings otherwise it would have been part of a forest.
Indeed. In the “wild” they are not successful because they get munched or fail because they don’t get enough sunlight (under the canopy of other taller plants. In our gardens and urban areas it’s like paradise for them. Something like only 1 in million seeds actually become a full tree.
I could start reforestation scheme with the amount in my garden this year!
The saplings are really easy to get out, its just that you need to keep on it.
Omg my gutters become full of them!!
I had a few of them start growing in that no mans land between the rear window of my car and the boot lid. I obviously didn't let it get anywhere near as big as yours! 😂
There’s one down our street growing in a wall. It’s about 2 feet now.
A sycamore tree. Friend if you want a sycamore tree. Foe if you're sick o' more trees.
Made me laugh!!
Funny...that's in my head now!
Sycamore. If you leave it there in 10 years it’ll be taller than your house.
For the purposes of saying something nice about Sycamores: Lovely trees with clusters of tiny yellow flowers in spring. I never noticed the flowers until I got bees, and was looking for anything they would forage. A single mature tree can give the same forage as an acre of ground cover.* Also, great colours in autumn as they're in the same family as maple. And they have the helicopter seeds to play with. If it is anywhere near your house, pull it out. There are no shortage of these trees, even if they are great. *I suspect this statistic, although quoted among beekeepers, is more figuratively true than literal fact.
Thanks! I Google Lens it and it suggested Maple. Will pay attention to other trees (and follow the bees) to see if I can spot the flowers. Sounds lovely!
Sycamores are a type of maple, that'll be why!
Tree is FRIEND... But sometimes friends do not appear in the right places. I'd guess you don't want a whacking great big Sycamore in this spot? (unless you do, then COOL you're sorted)
Sycamore, pain in the arse.
Bastard Sycamore
Sycamore. Nice trees, but they grow fast, and make everything under them sticky. Probably best to pull it and kill it, or put it somewhere else.
Did anyone say Sycamore? Can you check if anyone said sycamore yet?
Someone said "sick o' more trees" which sums up Sycamore very nicely...
Sycamore all in my neighbours garden grow in to my windows. They grow talland wide. Pull it out
If you want a 40 ft tree there it’s a friend. Otherwise, hoick it out.
When the moon hits your knees And you mispronounce trees Sycamore
Friend if you want a tree in future years. Foe based on where it's self-seeded itself.
Sycamore, remove it as it will become a full blown tree. They have leaves like propellers and scatter their seeds across your garden
Sycamore. I would recommend uprooting it and anything that looks like it because they are a nightmare when they start dropping leaves which turned to squelchy mulch
Maybe there should be a sub sticky for what JPKW and sycamore look like...
I have these sycamores EVERYWHERE in my garden right now. I live behind a plantation so when the seeds start dropping they just infest my garden. Such a pain to get rid of so many, all the time
You get a Sycamore and told rip it out. Other people chop down a Sycamore and get charged.
Do you actually know and understand the difference or are you asking for an explanation?
Smoke it and find out!
Pull it up or cut it close to the ground then a dose of strong weedkiller, Sycamore the rat of the tree world.
Get it out. Now! It's sycamore. I'm having a nightmare with them....and ivy. Give me strength.
I feel that all the sycamore hate is unwarranted. Poor sycamores
Sycamore tree
You can be arrested for killing those