How to remove a tree stump

December 28, 2020 5:19 AM

I cut down a large tree in my backyard to around 12 inches. The tree trunk and branches have been chipped but we still have to remove the tree stump. I am told it may sprout...I have researched and found a few good pieces of advice on using a tree stump killers. The issue I have is each of the recommendations takes months for the tree stump to rot. Before we start, does anyone have 'real-life experience' they can share, to avoid me waiting months for the tree stump to die - only to find it still sprouts?
posted by BenHiltop to Home & Garden (17 answers total)

Definitely happens. Hiring a person with a stump grinder is much faster.
posted by bilabial at 5:29 AM on December 28, 2020 [12 favorites]

In my experience, some stumps rot quickly, and some just dry out, get very hard and last seemingly forever. Some send up shoots for years.

If you call a tree guy, he will probably chainsaw it flush with the ground, then attack it with a power tool to remove everything down 6"-12" below gound level. You might be able to rent such a tool.

I don't have any experience with chemicals from the hardware store.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:40 AM on December 28, 2020

In the US can rent a tree stump grinder from Home Depot or from local tool rental places. I am not the most mechanically inclined person, but was able to successfully use one against much larger stump. Obviously use all the safety gear, don't have children or per in the area, etc.
posted by zeikka at 5:49 AM on December 28, 2020

We bought a house and had a tree removed and they threw in the grinding for free. I have no clue how else that thing would have gotten gone. I imagine they’d swing by and grind a stump for less than $150.
On the flip side, before we moved in someone cut down a tree around the side and did not grind the stumps. I am now locked in an epic, unending battle with sprouting roots and stumps.
posted by GilloD at 5:52 AM on December 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

Stump grinder for sure. I think I found our guy on Craigslist. He ground the stump and the large roots extending. I think we paid $250. The ground was a mess after the grinding so be prepared for some site work, especially if you go after the roots.
posted by amanda at 6:54 AM on December 28, 2020

Definitely grind the roots.

My grandpa had some Russian olive trees that he cut down some time in 1989 or 1990 (I distinctly recall them being gone when I painted his fence, on the day Whitey Herzog stepped down as Cardinals manager). Grandpa applied a chemical to kill the stumps - multiple times, even - but I was still mowing Russian olive shoots fifteen+ years later.
posted by notsnot at 7:16 AM on December 28, 2020

Minor extra bit of experience: I had a large elm tree removed due to Dutch elm disease a few years ago. City ordinance in Minneapolis required the tree removal company to grind down the stump in that situation. (The company waited a couple of days to finish the grinding, and the city inspector got a bit crabby about it.)

Another side note: decomposing tree material below the surface can also spawn mushrooms. Usually just kind of interesting and not a big problem, unless there are lots, which can get slightly goopy and messy. That's happened to me also.
posted by gimonca at 7:22 AM on December 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

Do you have an electric drill? Dill some big holes in the stump and then fill them with rock salt.

This is how I finally got rid of a volunteer tree right next to my garage foundation that I kept chopping down and kept coming back for several years.
posted by Andrhia at 7:46 AM on December 28, 2020 [3 favorites]

I recently had to remove an entire root ball of a large ash tree. Heads up - a stump grinder doesn't remove the entire root ball. It just grinds the top few inches (maybe up to a foot?) of the root ball. That's fine if all you want is to sod or plant over it. In my case, I wanted to plant a new tree very near to where the old tree was. Because of that, I needed to remove the entire root system of the old tree. Otherwise, it would limit the growth of the new tree.

I hired a person with a stump grinder, but he could only get the surface. After that, I had to take a chainsaw, reciprocating saw, and shovel, and removed the root ball by hand. It was a grueling afternoon, but at least it was just an afternoon.
posted by ochenk at 7:56 AM on December 28, 2020 [2 favorites]

If you're my 74 year old mother who lives alone, you go at it with a chainsaw for three days and then tell your daughter about it, promising you were very careful. "It was going to outlive me if I tried to wait it out with stump killers."
posted by Lyn Never at 8:20 AM on December 28, 2020 [23 favorites]

Seconding stump grinder and rock salt. Another method that can work, depending on where the stump is located relative to underground gas, electric, other tree roots or fiber optic lines: barrel burn. Get a steel drum and cut out the bottom, place it over the stump and start a burn in the barrel.
posted by zerobyproxy at 8:32 AM on December 28, 2020 [2 favorites]

I did the drill+rock salt on a smallish Norwegian maple last spring and then had it covered with a black bucket for the rest of the year, and the damned thing still sent up shoots. I feel like I should be billing my neighbors who tolerate a mature specimen at this point.
posted by teremala at 8:51 AM on December 28, 2020

If it is in a spot where you absolutely want lawn, then hire the stump grinder. But if possible I would turn the area into a patch of flowerbed, perennials or shrubbery. In that case, just cut it down flush to the ground, cover it with a piece of heavy plastic (like a trash can lid or the like) to prevent sprouting, dump a good layer of topsoil as large as you want this horticultural patch to be, and plant stuff around it.
posted by beagle at 8:55 AM on December 28, 2020 [2 favorites]

Your options are burning, blasting, cutting, grinding, and pulling. If you want to DIY, burning or renting a stump grinder will be your cheapest options. If you happen to be renting a skid steer for some other reason and don't mind tearing up grass, you can pull it out with a chain. The downside to any method that physically removes the stump is that there will be a hole you'll need to fill.
posted by wierdo at 10:07 AM on December 28, 2020

This where you use dynamite or at least so my grandfather complained. Cut it down, auger out a hole in the middle good and deep, drop down the stick and run.

We ended up burning it down a bit from the top to make a bowl like shape and using it as a flower planter until it rotted away.
posted by zengargoyle at 10:10 AM on December 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

It is an on-label use for glyphosate (roundup) to drill holes in the stump and paint or drip the chemical into it to kill the plant without harming its neighbors. It’s much more targeted and dose-controlled than spraying.
posted by janell at 12:53 PM on December 28, 2020

Another vote for grinding the stump. In my experience, depending on the type of tree, the stump rotting compounds taking a few months to do their work is wildly optimistic. It can take years sometimes.
posted by quince at 5:49 PM on December 28, 2020