Waaaay OT: Induced Stump Rot

Lighting your old tree stumps on fire is a great way to piss off your local fire department. If the fire manages to get down into the roots it can burn for weeks, along unexpected pathways, and come out at inconvenient times.

My dad used to say some really inventive things about the intelligence of homeowners that lit their stumps on fire.

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Ahhhh! (slaps head) Yes, that makes perfect sense!

Yes. That's how stump remover (potassium nitrate) should be used. Mix with hummingbird sugar (fine grained) and pack with an 8lb maul into capped pipe. :)

Jon

The same trick of "drill holes and enrich with nitrogen" can almost certainly be done with other (non-explosive) nitrogen sources... e.g. urea fertilizer, fish meal/emulsion, etc., and then wait for natural decay.

Another trick I've heard is "drill holes in the stump, then build a planter around it using boards, fill with topsoil, and plant flowers or vegetables." The moisture and microorganisms from the soil will invade the stump fairly quickly and break down the structure.

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Nothing you haven't already considered, I'm guessing.

I can tell you only what I do. And I remove perhaps 3-4 a year on my 7 acre property with hundreds of Doug Fir growing on it. I use my backhoe. JD4320 with a detachable 9' swing backhoe on the back. Makes fairly routine work out of it. And I'm removing stumps with nearly 3' diameter trunks in an hour's work. Smaller take less time. Only had one take a few hours, mostly because of some difficulties getting into certain orientations around it on a hillside.

I have stump remover. But I'd use it for an explosive, not just pour it in some hole, if I were being forced to use that stuff. It takes way too long to be effective on big stumps. Might be okay on twiggy things, but you could get those out with a shovel instead.

Jon

I'd be wary of using, e.g., a back hoe for this sort of thing unless you know there is *nothing* below grade that you might directly or indirectly snag in the process.

A neighbor managed to nicely yank his gas line out of the ground -- prompting a Sunday afternoon visit from the local gas company (Blue Stake only guarantees markings to +- 3 ft which is usually "infinity" when it comes to side yards, etc.)

The last stump I dug out was >12 ft from any known/marked/expected underground services (note that Blue Stake won't mark water/sewer lines on your property!). Yet, as I exposed more and more of the root system, I was able to follow a large root across these 12 ft (not part of my original plans as I had only wanted a 12 ft *dia* hole) until it had found the soft dirt surrounding the ceramic

*sewer* pipe. Since it was still more than 6 inches in diameter at that point, had I simply *tugged* (understatement of the year!) on the stump (with the electric winch on the big diesel), it would undoubtedly have cracked the sewer line and made for a costly repair!

The advantage of a stump grinder is that you can often find (pay) someone to do this for you -- if you are the "lazy" sort. This isn't usually practical if you go the "dig it out" route.

I suspect they *do* accelerate the "natural process". The problem is that those processes are typically very slow. I know of stumps that are 50+ years old. And they look like they will be there for yet

*another* 50 years! How long do you really want to wait? :>

When I took down the Cottonwood (incredibly soft wood -- I'd wager I could snap a branch thicker than my arm with ease!), I burned the stump until it was just below grade and then covered it up with soil. Termites are common in the soil, here. E.g., leave a log on the ground. turn it over some months later and see where termites have attacked it from safety, below. For several *years*, I had to carry "fill" to this part of the yard as the buried bulk of the stump ALONG WITH THE LARGER SURFACE ROOTS slowly decayed.

Hoping to speed up the process (i.e., *kill* the wood, first!), I used a commercial "stump rotter" on the Mulberry tree (roughly the same sized stump). I looked at a "holey stump" for several years after that until I finally decided to burn it out, as well.

Since then, I've physically removed all of the stumps (along with a fair bit of the larger portions of the root structure) whenever I felled a tree. I'd rather the job be "done", now, than have to address it repeatedly for years to come!

25 Years ago I sent out my two teenage sons to dig out a Palo Verde stump in the side yard. A few hours later I suddenly hear sirens. They'd decided gasoline was the way to go, and some old neighborhood biddie (like Tim ;-) called the fire department.

They came and soaked it so thoroughly that it would never burn again ;-)

Fortunately the Mayor (and neighbor), Herb Drinkwater, showed up and convinced the fire captain not to cite these "nice boys" for illegal burning ;-)

I would have used charcoal myself ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

He is trying to get the stump to rot, not keep the stump from rotting.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

It kills it very quickly making the roots easy to hack away from the underside of the stump.

Diesel should rot the stump as well as kill it.

Hire someone with a stump grinder.

--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.

Or other gizmo such as

Used keywords 'stump removal' on youtube.com for other gizmos.

e

can't you just cut it down to slightly below the surface and cover it with dirt?

-Lasse

Monty Python's explosive Mr. Creosote would perform even better.

(kinda disgusting, but still friendly by sci.electronics.design standards)

in a former live, I was a member of the THW, a unit similar to a fire brigade but more technically oriented (radio comm, rescue, emergency power, machines...). We once removed the chimney of a former brewery and had a lot of NitroGelit over. It was decided to remove some roots of trees that had been cut down to make place for a shelter hut in the woods. The Sprengmeister told us to hide behind trees at least 150 m away, and while safe, it was not overly cautious. That were monster roots, but they learned to fly. :-)

regards, Gerhard

We had Oaks taken out over the years and yes, Grinding the stump is the best option. The drill and pour it in solutions just don't work and the stump is too damp for anything else.

Cheers

ay.

I have used Tovex with good results, but the only place in the county that sold explosives closed down. Not having any heavy machinery, I found the best way to remove stumps was not to cut the tree down. Instead get some steel cable or chain around the tree as high is you can get it. I mean at least thirty or forty feet up. Then use a come- a-long to put some tension on the cable in the direction you want the tree to fall. Then get in there with a shovel and start digging. It takes a fair amount of digging before you can pull the tree down. But lots less digging than if you cut the tree first and then started digging the stump out.

=20 Dan

*That* is wayyyyy cool.

-- Cheers, James Arthur

Tractor:

Property:

Should give an approximate idea.

Jon

Been there (an oak), done that, and the stump remover product worked, but it took a long time - years, not months.

Ed

I second that. Best way if you cannot use explosives. Well, best way still but the explosives are more fun.

I took out several mesquite trees with a big John Deer and big chain. Made a hell of a mess. Later we had a guy with a grinder come over and take out 20 trees and some old stumps left over from the previous owner. He went down probably 6" or more below grade. A little fill dirt and I was done. Well worth the money.

Some folks around here say use a long drill bit and butter milk. Still gonna take years for the "bugs" to get rid of the stump.

--
Joe Chisolm
Marble Falls, TX