Question
I have a 9 year old mountain ash tree that is dying. It had wind damage from a bad storm and never recovered. We need to take it down and want to know if these trees have a deep root system.

Sally

Answer
Most of the roots will be in the first 2 feet of soil. This will depend on the soil the tree is growing in. Some have tap roots down to 5-6 feet. Most of the roots will be in the upper soil 1-2 feet. It is not necessary to dig all the roots up. Depending on what you plan to plant  in that area the ones in the upper soil will be enough to remove. You can in  fact just grind the stump down to be low ground level and offset the planting and this will be fine. You might get some re-sprouting form the method but the new sprouts can easily be cut back as the grow. I hope this is what you are asking.