Trees stumps.

@rhinoboy (2129)
February 8, 2007 6:54am CST
The previous owners of my house had several fir or pine type trees removed from the garden within the past couple of years, but left the stumps untouched. I plan on landscaping the plot (from slope to terrace) but this would involve a lot of manual labour, even without the complication of removing these stumps/roots. Have you carried out any work of this type or could you offer any advice on the simplest way to remove these obstructions? Thanks in advance.
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5 responses
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
8 Feb 07
I love this Old House, this is what I found from them. Hope it helps you. Remember to do your jobs as you can and make slow and steady progress, you will be amazed at the end of every season and be encouraged to do it all again the next summer!! heeheehee Hand-digging: Digging by hand works best for small, shallow-rooted trees. Essential tools are a shovel, an axe or grub hoe with axe head, loppers, and a root saw. The trick is to dig and expose roots, then cut with the appropriate tool, pull the roots out of the ground with the grub hoe and put them in the compost pile. Stump grinder: This is a machine that literally chews up stumps 6 to 12 inches below ground level. A set of carbide teeth makes quick work of small- to medium- size stumps; large ones will take a little time. I remove all the grindings to the compost pile and fill the craters with loam. If you enjoy running such equipment, these machines are available at rental houses. If machinery is not your thing, or you only have one or two stumps to do, many arborists have stump grinders and will do the grinding on a per-stump-inch price basis. If you have many stumps to get rid of, a stump grinder is the most economical way to go. Make sure you get complete instructions on how to operate the machinery and wear appropriate safety equipment. Backhoe/skidsteer: Sometimes if stumps are in planting areas we will pull them with a backhoe. This is the costliest way to remove stumps, although the expense can be kept to a minimum if you have a lot of stumps to do and a place to bury them on site. Burying eliminates the cost of hauling stumps away and disposing of them off-site. Bear in mind that it is inadvisable to bury stumps in a wetlands area, and remember too that no matter where you bury a stump, the area is going to settle sooner or later. Of course, having a backhoe on your property does create a large mess, so I usually only do this on new, large construction areas. Small- to medium-size stumps can be removed quickly with a skidsteer machine. A bucket with teeth or the pallet fork attachment will pop the stump out, which you can then gather in the bucket and bury on site. Skidsteers are available for rent, but backhoes usually are not. Chemical removal: There are several chemicals available at garden centers that will hasten the rotting of a tree stump. This basically involves drilling a series of holes in the stump and adding the chemicals. While this method definitely does speed up decomposition time, don't expect it to be lightning-fast. The stump will still take a prolonged period of time to break down. Fire: People sometimes use scrap wood to start a fire on top of a stump and keep it going until the stump is gone. This is a great idea if you have a few stumps to remove, have scrap wood you want to get rid of and want to keep warm for the weekend. Remember to check with local officials on the time of year when you're allowed to burn in your area.
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@rhinoboy (2129)
9 Feb 07
Thanks so much for this. I only wish I could employ some of the mechanical methods you mention. Since my garden is quite small (aboout 20 x 25 feet) and in a confined area (among neighbours gardens) it looks like it't the hand method for me. Oh well, I suppose i could use the exercise!! Unfortunately I can't even use fire, since the trees were around the property boundaries where there is wood fencing I aim to keep. Ho hum... I better start lookingfor an axe!
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@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
11 Feb 07
Sure would be nice to invite the boy scouts to help them earn another badge. Many hands make light work. You might even consider calling a professional, it might be a good thing. Good luck with this one!!
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@rhinoboy (2129)
12 Feb 07
I'll probably rope in as many friends as I can co-erce, but I think it'll be character building! At least it'll help me shift one or two of these spare tyres I have!
• United States
8 Feb 07
Yes we have done some stump removal. If there isn't anything around you can burn them. My husband drilled a couple holes in them and put some lighter fluid in them and started them on fire. It burned them out. You could also drill holes and load them up with salt. Salt kills the stumps and roots. This way takes awhile.
@rhinoboy (2129)
9 Feb 07
Unfortunately, there are wooden fences near all of the stumps. I'm a bit of a pyromaniac though, so I might have a go anyway!!
@Dolcerina (3376)
• Hungary
8 Feb 07
My boyfriend and the all family worked on it in a weekend. Dig and cut, dig and draw, dig and cut....
@rhinoboy (2129)
9 Feb 07
I think I'll need to enlist some help from family too. Now this will be a masculine job! lolol
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@Dolcerina (3376)
• Hungary
10 Feb 07
Yes, it is a really masculine job :D
@freak369 (5113)
• United States
9 Feb 07
If you can't move the mountain, work around it. That motto has worked well for me so far LOL. There is a stump neutralizer that you can put into the stump after you've drilled holes in it. It may take one full season for it to start working but it stops root growth or spreading and makes it easier to extract. Any way you look at it, there is some work involved. One course of action is to look into hiring someone to remove them for you. They show up with a truck, drill some holes, work it back and forth then yank it out. I have no idea what the cost is on that but if you don't want to spend the time doing it yourself, that is always an option.
@rhinoboy (2129)
9 Feb 07
I can't really use poisons, as they'll kill my neighbours trees too (we're tightly packed here in UK!) and I want to grow fruit and vegetables once I'm done.
• United States
8 Feb 07
Why not landscape around the stumps? I have one in my yard, large, and I have planted several different kinds of flowers around it. I have also cut holes in the tops of stumps and filled with potting soil and planted flowers in there, also, the quickest and easiest way to landscape is to put a container with flowers or something directly on top of it! If you want to remove it, I have heard, although never tried, that bleach poured onto the top of the stump with speed up the natural decay.
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@rhinoboy (2129)
9 Feb 07
I'm hoping that I can work around most of them. There are between 10 and 15 in total, but I'll (hopefully) only have to remove 2 or 3 that are really in the way. Thanks for the suggestions though.