cootie- A question. Will the contractor be rolling back and forth over the bamboo, or is he just concerned about lowering the clearance. The reason I ask is that, if you don't have to cut the culms all the way to the ground and can leave some stubs with leaf mass, then the bamboo will be able to regenerate faster. On the other hand, If it were me, I'd be digging up rootballs and heeling them over in a pile of topsoil, and then replanting them after the contractor was done. But, digging up divisions of mature bamboo (and not killing them in the process) is hard work unless you have someone who is experienced in doing this. Unfortunately, you're about 1000 miles away so I can't be much help there!

you can NOT drive large machines for building houses.. over the root zone of large trees .. they will eventually die from soil compaction ... but in tree years.. that might be 5 or 10 years down the line. .. so there is little use in saving older ones .. too near to the construction ... so unless someone can define the driving area.. and your contractor will abide by such.. you will be severely limited as to what is useful to save ... i live in MI.. plain old green pines.. not the foo foo ones.. grow 3 to 5 feet per year ... when you start with a 2 -3 year old bare root ... and give them a year or two to get 'established' [and that includes PROPER AFTERCARE] .... and will easily outgrow.. a 5 to 8 foot transplant.. in the first 5 years.. its all about transplant shock ... frankly.. there are NO SLOW PINES ... if i were you.. i would mark out the building area.. and the access driveway ... mark that out.. remove everything nearby.. and one of the tree pro's will have to delineate that distance for you [they can confirm scot above] .. and stake and police tape it all off.. it will look rather comical during construction ... and then perhaps.. expect to lose a few more ... and it is actually good.. because you dont really want dying trees falling on your new house.. and that would be the beauty of planting new.. nearer to the house ... the death rate of moving 20 footers would be extreme.. even if you paid the best of the biz to move them.. its not a DIY type thing IMHO .... and i bet it would cost tens of thousands of dollars ... in theory.. anything can be done.. its just budget and las vegas odds ... or extreme heavy labor [like that one guy at the link .. if you use the search in GW.. you might find his other posts by searching his GW name] .... which is not my game.. but maybe its yours ... now.. if you were doing a log cabin.. and were going to do it with a horse to drag in logs.. with no basement.. maybe we can save more ... but you didnt give us any facts in that regard.. so we are left to ponder large machines.. etc... so.. ID and remove what must be done to ease construction .... and when you get to landscaping.. get back to us.. and list options on stock.. and probably providers ... good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Well, you folks are making me feel a bit better. The kid who mows my lawn lopped off one peony bush and some new Iris shoots with his weed eater. It took me awhile to even catch my breath. Last year we lost all our peonies to a late surprise killing frost. Now this kid!!! I think the Iris will shoot back up, they're pretty tough, but it's nice to know the peony will make it. I had just planted it last year so the growth was only 4 new shoots. The kid will no longer weed-eat anything in the backyard -- ever!

If you let the bottom part of the stump regrow it has got the roots so it will be stable ...the other parts of the stump you can make into a hedge if you just leave them on the ground some will sprout and others won't. Either way its good mulch if the tree isn't diseased. Otherwise just use the stumps or compost them and only let the base with the roots regrow. You can wax the top of the stump with beeswax to seal the open wound and stop it rotten and getting diseased. we have an apple tree that grew back like that and ive got horse chestnuts growing that way. You can also employ a proper arbour maintenance guy to cut your trees into shapes that are less likely to get ripped up in a storm hey take a lot of the longer branches and shorten them so you get new flimsy growth which the wind can't break as easily and they look nice after a few years and if it is properly done. They do third in Europe a lot and it looks great. Here in Ireland a lot of people with an electric saw think they can do work with trees and really they have not a clue. So be careful to find a guy and see his work. Sometimes they cut them so ugly but when cut right it make a them a lot safer and still looks nice. Bit like a lollipop lol! But better than having no trees at all. You can also plant other trees around large trees to create wind break... Trees like poplar are good for that and birch they break the wind up and divert it before the fall force hits the big tree. Its not bad for buildings to have some wind break too. Might not make much difference during a hurricane though. If its a big oak its probably been there longer than you and birds may have lived there for generations ...trees are an amazing asset and take so long to mature that I'd do everything I could to protect them and help them endure safely before cutting them down. They do so much good. And you might find problems if you fell a lpt of them... Landsliding away flooding in paddocks and other things which the trees have been preventing for years.