What is the best way to remove large stumps after trees are cut down?

Question

We recently had trees thinned on our 5 acres. Mostly pine, and some cottonwood. Many had been invaded by the Pine bark beetle and some just died, presumably because of drought and overgrowth. The person who did the work assured us it would look 'like a park' when he got done. I can't fault most of his work; however, these stumps raised all over looks terrible. And, I worry about the still present root system.

I've seen property that is parklike, and it seems obvious the stumps were taken care of after the trees came down. Do any of you foresters out there have a suggestion that won't cost a fortune?

Answer 1

There are many approaches to ridding your property of the stumps. The one I noticed that seems quick and ideal to me involved the use of a piece of equipment that looked like a riding lawnmower but had a large and wide chainsaw like contraption on it that was lowered on the stump and proceded to just grind it down until the stump was reduced to a pile of mulch and dirt. I'm sure there were roots remaining deeper down, but a year later, all I see is grass growing where the stump was. Nothing else was done. They just grinded this stump (pine tree incidentally) and drove away from it. They didn't even rake the mulch or dirt to make the area look more level. They might have sprinkled a little bit of grass seed there, but I didn't notice anyone doing that. I'm assuming mother nature just took over.

Answer 2

Best Way To Remove Stumps

Answer 3

There are products out there that can be effective, but they generally take a few years to work well. Root Rot, is one product, but it can get pricey, as it takes several applications. One way I have found is this....

Chain sax 2 overlapping X's into the trunk so that there are 8 points. The cuts should also go all the way in to about the height of the stump. Then get rock salt, and pour into stump. You want to have someone with experience cut into the trunk as it might be vary dangerous for a novice.

You can also try to burn them out with kerosene after cutting the same 2 x pattern.

Burning them out will be faster, but you may have local restrictions.

The salt will take a year or so to work, as will the commercial products.

The roots will die off on their own in time.

But, you can make the job a lot faster if you go to your local rental center and get a stump grinder. It may take a few days depending on how many stumps you have. 24" stump 1 foot high will take about an hour with a small grinder.

A pro will get about 60-80 per stump.

I hope this was helpful, but please, please PLEASE....don't hook your truck up to anything!!! I've seen way too many screwed up rear ends after someone had the bright idea to yank a stump out with their truck.

Good Luck.

Answer 4

Your question was answered at the This Old House website by an expert.

This Old House (is a tv show on pbs)

"What are the best options available for removing tree stumps from my lawn?
— William, Waycross, Georgia

A: Roger says: It all depends on the type, number and size of the stumps. Some trees have big, wide, flat root systems, such as pine trees. Some trees, like oak, have deep roots and a tap root that goes straight down, which makes digging extremely tough. To help clear up exactly what the best options are for removing stumps, below I've listed several methods and my thoughts on what method works best for different situations:

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. "

I hope this information is helpful to you. Good luck in removing the stumps.

Answer 5

My mother in law just got a new garage built on her home and she had a big pine tree in the spot where the garage is going to be built and the contractor used salt after cutting the stump as low as he could get it. I think he used the rock salt, or the salt the state uses on the roads for snow and ice. It helps dissolve the stump.

Answer 6

I've removed some stumps of tree's myself. What it takes is lots of freakin sweat and work. Gotta dig around roots and use a pick axe to cut up roots surrounding bark. You can probably hire people to do this, but it is hard work and i'm sure it won't come cheap.

Answer 7

hi you could hire someone that has a stump removal machine or
go to a buy stump killer that will rot the stump and roots for good.
you can usually buy this at a farm supply co. or hardware a store.
hope i helped

Answer 8

Rent a stump grinder.

Answer 9

Some people blast them up and some pull them up and some rent a stump grinder and some utilize all three methods.

Answer 10

remove large stumps trees cut down: https://bitly.im/c7/what-is-the-best-way-to-remove-large-stumps-after-trees-are-cut-down