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Rural living

Looking to relocate to the countryside? Find advice in our Rural Living forum.

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Original poster

Should I cut down my yew tree?

48 replies

Jane3455678 · 21/06/2022 19:19

We've just moved into a new house which has a beautiful large yew tree at the bottom of the garden. I would say that it's pretty old...
However, we have a 1.5 year old who likes putting things in his mouth on occasion.
My family are saying we should cut it down asap before he poisons himself but I'm very sad to get rid of such a beautiful tree! Would you cut it down?

OP posts:

Honaloulou · 21/06/2022 19:21

No! A Yew that size will be approaching a thousand years old. Cutting it down would be a tragedy.

Just watch him till he's older.

Original poster

Jane3455678 · 21/06/2022 19:22

OP posts:

CraftyGin · 21/06/2022 19:22

We got rid of our yew trees when we moved into a house with our young children.

I don't regret it for a minute.

napody · 21/06/2022 19:23

Oh no, don't! The time window of putting things in mouths is so short, and yews don't drop anything anyway- he's so unlikely to start pulling bits of the tree and eating them!! I'm glad to hear you sound like you're likely to keep it? Beautiful tree (or be-yew-tiful if you will)

TitInATrance · 21/06/2022 19:24

No, I’d watch the baby like a hawk though and teach him not to put th8ngs in his mouth - as you would with household hazards.

Lots of plants are poisonous - I have a laburnum, and when DC were small we had lily of the valley all along the front path. Growing feral, and every bit of it toxic.

Hagiography · 21/06/2022 19:24

No, please don't.

As your chlid grows, teach him that he can't put everything in his mouth. It's not feasible in the long term to remove all risks from the world.

Namechange1345677 · 21/06/2022 19:24

No! Think of the wildlife!

napody · 21/06/2022 19:25

CraftyGin · 21/06/2022 19:22

We got rid of our yew trees when we moved into a house with our young children.

I don't regret it for a minute.

And never grow/let your children play near daffodils either I expect? Half the plants I'm our gardens are poisonous. You just teach children not to eat them.

RaininSummer · 21/06/2022 19:26

Please don't. Just keep an eye on him as surely you wouldn't leave an under 3 year old in the garden alone anyway? When I was young we had a laburnum tree and were just told not to eat the lovely little seeds even though I played tea making with them with a bit older

FlibbertyGiblets · 21/06/2022 19:26

Could you fence off the tree to a certain extent? Maybe get in a pro to cut the branches in such a way to diminish the radius of fruit drop to the floor? I am just guessing here, no idea if this is possible or doable.

Nb tree might have a preservation order, in which case, game over.

greenacrylicpaint · 21/06/2022 19:27

teach 'no picking no licking'

and make sure to sweep the area for any twigs and berries regularly.

FlibbertyGiblets · 21/06/2022 19:27

By which I mean, tree stays.

LadyApplejack · 21/06/2022 19:27

God, no!
Your son will outgrow this stage in no time, just keep an eye on him until then. That lovely mature tree has been there far longer than any of you and probably couldn't be regrown in your lifetime. Losing it would be such an extreme solution to a short term concern.

carefullycourageous · 21/06/2022 19:27

I would erect a temporary fence and go on an intensive training mission with the child.

It would be terribly sad to cut it down. You will never get that back whatever you plant in its place.

Spanielsarepainless · 21/06/2022 19:28

Please don't cut it down. Your son will grow out of putting things in his mouth and yews are such beautiful, culturally significant trees it would be vandalism to cut it down.

For what it's worth, all parts of a yew are poisonous except the flesh of the berries (seed is poisonous).

Verbena87 · 21/06/2022 19:29

Keep it. Do lots of nature walks/garden time and talk about it. My little boy berated his dad for touching yew berries when DS was 3 (DH pushing 40) “dad! Every part of that tree is poisonous!” 🤣.

ClocksGoingBackwards · 21/06/2022 19:30

No, it would be awful to cut down such a mature tree for the sake of supervising a toddler in the garden for a couple of years until they are old enough to understand.

woopdedoodle · 21/06/2022 19:31

Firstly it's not 1000years old, secondly they drop a ton of berries which have a poisonous pip, thirdly you can be a ruthless pruner of yew. and they will grow back. A local park has an ancient clipped yew garden , it's being restored and they cut every thing hard back last year all greening up nicely now.

They shade a garden, naturally killing every thing underneath, so personally I'd get a professional to take it back to something more manageable, and clip every year.

If you want a tree for wild life plant a silver birch.

clippety clop · 21/06/2022 19:45

No but I'd definitely prune it as I'd be worried the roots will cause damage.

Haydugee · 21/06/2022 19:46

No, just make sure that you watch him; he won’t be at the “eating everything” stage for long.
As soon as he’s old enough, warn him of the danger. That’s what we did with our son and I’m so glad we kept our tree.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 21/06/2022 19:47

People don't leave toddlers and crawling babies in gardens alone, do they? So he's never going to be in a position to be eating it.

That tree could have been a sprouting seed the year King Harold was born.

A sapling when William was crowned.

It could have seen Crusaders marching past, heard the tears of plague, the celebration of weddings, births and coronations.

It was a mature tree when Queen Elizabeth 1 gave her famous speech.

Countless horses have plodded past it. Spitfires and Hurricanes could have flown over it, wolves and bears could have hidden behind it.

It's provided food and shelter for thousands and thousands, if not millions of birds.

And yet, in a millennium, nobody decided to chop it down because their Mum said they weren't capable of safeguarding their child.

Weefreetiffany · 21/06/2022 19:53

Mooncup that comment is peak mumsnet

SheWoreYellow · 21/06/2022 19:56

Are you sure it’s a female? The males don’t even have the berries.

RustyBear · 21/06/2022 19:58

We moved into our current house when DD was 18 months old, but the yew trees at the side of the lawn were our neighbours, not ours, so we had to learn to live with them. We taught DD not to eat anything in the garden, but we also kept watch whenever she was in the garden (which also had a laburnum, though we did take that one down)
You might want to check whether your tree is male or female -luckily only one of our neighbours three trees was a female- the male trees don't produce berries, which are the only part that your toddler is likely to encounter if you prune the tree so the branches are out of his reach. We never found many berries on our lawn, most of them were eaten before they fell by flocks of thrushes and fieldfares.
Also if the tree is very old, it may have a tree preservation order on it, in which case you would need permission from the council to fell it, and possibly even to drastically prune it, depending on the order. You should be able to find out from your council - some have online maps which show TPOs.

Panamii · 21/06/2022 20:01

No leave the tree. Honestly it will be fine. I grew up with a yew tree and managed not to swallow any berries. The eating anything phase is so short. It would be a shame to destroy a beautiful tree to reduce and already teeny risk

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