I would really like to hear some good ideas on how to remove tree stumps. I cut them off as close to the ground as I could with a chainsaw, but, they still pose possible lawn tractor damage. I don't want a chipper that is big enough to do the job to rut the hell out my yard. Decompose? Burn?

Thanks for any replies!

Better help should come along, but it seems there is some chemical the speeds up the rotting?

The last stump grinder I rented was on rubber tracks. No damage to my lawn other than where I ground the stump. About a five foot circle.

ive never had a grinder mess up my yard.

Other than that, if you cut now, they will be ready to burn by fall. They'll burn/smoke for days.

Got me on ignore

No help for you crybaby

I recently had a stump about 40" in diameter ground up. I had to remove about 4 wheelbarrow loads of wood chips afterwards to get it level. I put some grass seed and some Miracle Grow garden soil on it.

I did the same to another area a few springs ago and by mid summer you couldn't tell where it was.

Also, I've placed half of a 55 gallon barrel around a stump, poured in about 5" of charcoal and lit it up. It takes 4 or 5 applications, but it will eventually burn it down to ground level.

problem with leveling it in the beginning is that the stump will continue to rot way down, you'll be adding top soil on an almost yearly basis. Always try to leave a small mound and it will eventually level. Atleast that has been my experience.

How big and what species we talking about? Some have shallow root systems, some come right out with a tug.

My 4' cottonwood stump is gonna take some time to make go away.

Drill some holes in it, add lye. Cover with dirt and come back in 5 years. This has worked hundreds of times.

I've had to add soil to one that sunk. But only one time. In any event, they're going to rot and sink whether you grind them or not.

If it's cedar, it could take a while to rot on its own. Took one down for my parents and drilled a series of 1 inch holes in the top of the stump to collect water. A winter of freeze/thaw cycles busted it up enough to break up most of it. Not an ideal solution because the freezing would often only expand upward (like an ice cube tray). It was only one tree, and mom didn't want to get a stump grinder nor use chemicals. Couldn't burn in the city either.

Depending on height and diameter of stump, an angle grinder could work well on the smaller stuff.

I've been taking down trees around my place for 3 years. My method is to just get down flush with the ground and chainsaw through them. It dulls the heck out of the chain to get down in the dirt with them. (there's no way to cut them flush without digging up some dirt with the chainsaw)

I just sharpen the chain after every stump cutting. That little chain grinder I bought at Harbor Freight has gotten quite a workout.

I dig up around the stump to expose the roots and use an axe, when I get to big roots sometimes I use a hose to soak the dirt and wash the roots clean (wait until the water drains) then I cut the roots with a chainsaw, and dig up some more using the Axe method.

If it’s a big stump I cut it into 4th’s with a chain saw once I wash all the dirt away from it with the hose... and take it out in pieces.

The fun way, Diesel fuel and fertilizer.

The stores sell stump decomposing compound. It's saltpeter, which is an oxidizer. Drill holes, fill with saltpeter, give it time to oxidize the wood. The chemical is a natural fertilizer.

Dig that sumbitch out with an excavator, fix the lawn. Done in a day, not 5 years of bullschit.

Stump grinder ....period!

😁
I use diesel, and the wood from the tree itself, if available.
Takes some time, but NO mess

I've rented grinders and have been happy with them. Except...let the stumps get dry before you do it. I tried to take out some poplar stumps that were too green and the grinder choked on them. The didn't chip, they sort of wadded and the pieces wouldn't tear loose. The trees were dormant but still had too much water in the trunks.

The rental place here even asks you how long it has been since the tree was cut.

I’ve burned a couple out.

Chainsaw a cross hatch into it and build a fire atop. Hole is all that’s left after a few fires.

What do city folks do with used oil after oil changes?

Oh yeah. Jiffy lube. 😂🤪

Some trees will come back with a vengeance if you just grind them to below grade and cover and do not kill the roots, Locust comes to mind but they're are others. If that is the type of tree you have cutting as close the ground as possible and then drilling a bunch of 1" holes about 12" deep in the stump then pouring Epson Salt and cap with melted wax from a candle. Cover with black plastic and then dirt. This will kill all of the roots and keep the tree from spouting again.

Pine, poplar and most oaks will not spout back from the stump so just cut as close to the ground as you can and if you do not want to grind the stump just cover with dirt and wait until it rots.

Explosives

The first mistake you made was cutting it off close to ground level. If you would of left 3-4 feet remaining it would be a lot easier to push over or pull out. Some rope and a couple of pulleys and a truck or small tractor would rip it out.
If you want to burn it use charcoal. Cover it with a bag full, light, and go back the next day to see how much burned .

The worst I've had to deal with was a triple trunk Hawthorn. They send out sprouts almost as bad as a Bradford Pear.

By the time I got done with the Hawthorn, I looked like I had been in a fight with a family of bobcats.

I used the "half of a 55 gallon drum, charcoal" method to scorch the earth where it had been and still ended up with flats on two of my lawnmower tires from the thorns that got left behind.

,...nasty trees.

Unlike my first thought - it took 13 replies before diesel and fertilizer came up.
The first thought through my mind was "The proper application of high explosives"

5 pounds of tannerite might be intersting.

you can rent a small,medium or large stump grinder, get one big enough and wait till ground is tight,, you can scatter the chips with a shovel then mow over them to disperse them more,, if you have to add dirt later then you have to,,

If it's in a spot where I can burn it then I drill a bunch of 1" holes with a long auger bit. Top them up with diesel a few times and let it soak in good. On burn day I drill a few more holes from the outside edge down towards the center, the idea is to get a few air vents that connect to the holes from the top. Build a little fire on top and let it go. Mine go hours seeming like nothing is happening and then the top caves in. It'll often burn a couple feet of the roots if they're dry.

Hire a stump grinder dude when its drier. It costs minimal to hire that out

Boom! There it is!

Basically five choices.

1) Dig it out with a backhoe and backfill it.

2) Grind it.

3) Dig a hole to the bottom and try to rocket stove it. Google rocket stove.

4) Dig around and cut off the roots with an axe and spend another week trying to pull it out with a truck.

5) Live with it.

Local Forester gave me some advice on how to make a stump rot faster. As soon as the tree is cut, spray the raw stump with Round-up. It shocks the root system and the tree gives up immediately. Probably knock a year or two off the rotting process.

+1

Go sit on the ground and whack at it with your girl scout hatchet. Maybe you’ll chop your other testicle off.

Dude. You’re awfully testy about him having you on ignore. Not everybody’s going to like you. Get over it. 😉😂

Just go with the stump grinder...it is the easiest solution.

The last few cost me fifty bucks to get rid off and the Deni Boys did good work and were easy to deal with.

Dont know how big your talking but for ones on the smaller side I have dug around them exposing alot of the roots and then cutting the roots with a battery sawzall with a 12" pruning blade. Less hassle tjen dealing with chainsaws vs dirt. They usually come out after this without much difficulty. Have also done the surround with half a drum and burn with charcoal on a few that I couldnt get any equipment to them to rip em out.

Do it the easy way, just hire the yard guys to come in and get 'er done , wont cost all that much and you'll have far less hassle.

That's what I'd do. The chips you get are really good mulch for shrubs too.

A kid pulling a little red wagon would rut my lawn.

Thank you, everyone, for the replies...with of course the exception of the azzhole I have on ignore...at least I HAVE testicles. He can ESAD.

5 pounds of tannerite might be interesting.

This. Might even expose some dinosaur bones? Saw it on TV.

Smallish trees, I dig the roots open, cut 'em off and yank stump out with truck or tractor. Fill in hole.

Cut a big sugar maple up in front of my cabin about five years ago. Sawed the stump off even with the ground and been mowing over it since.

Depends on if you want it gone, or gone right now.

Lots of suggestions to do it over time. Grinder if you want it gone now.

You could put landscape blocks around it, fill w soil, and make it a flower bed.

I have rented grinders for the 12" -15 "stumps and had a commercial grinder do 20-24"stumps. Only part of lawn that got messed up was were the stump was.I did have to haul away the debris and fill/plant the hole

75% sodium nitrate, 15% powdered charcoal, 10% sulfur powder, black pipe, white yarn, and some sugar.

I was a boy, Hank Towe, blew some Walnut trees. It's a sight to see a tall Walnut trees jump out of the ground, dirt, and all!

Rent an excavator.

Last fall I rented one and pulled out several. These were the bigger ones.

It depends on the long range results you want. Digging the stumps out and filling the hole is a one and done. Grinding them will have low spots in the yard as the remaining wood rots and you'll have to level the spots from time to time. I've had several stumps ground and have had to level the spots.

Drill several 1/2” holes in the stump, spread all over the stump, then fill holes with kerosene. For two weeks, keep holes filled. Stump will soak up kerosene during this time. When the kerosene in the stops soaking in, light the stump. It will burn readily, down to below ground level.

I just give them time to dry and then burn them.

Drill holes into stump and fill with copper sulfate. Wait till stump dies and pull it out.

After levelling the stump somewhat close to the ground, I drill 3/4 to 1" holes with a spade bit, then pour muriatic acid (HD) into the holes. Refresh occasionally. In six months all you have is rotten wood that you can kick over with your foot. Good ole boy in N GA told me that one.

Use a high lift jack to pull the stump out. If it can’t then dig around the stump to expose the roots. Use high lift to pull stump and cut exposed roots. Repeat until it’s out.

There are 75 yo stumps around here that still aren't dry.

Probably should just move, I've dug them out with my backhoe its a lot more work than I would have imagined. Dig down just below the stump build a fire and keep it going with a leaf blower or small electric fan it will keep it going like a forge

Tracked stump grinder. Not even a challenge & no ruts in your yard.

I've heard that the stuff you put in your sewer line to kill/burn roots works pretty well too.

My nephew packed tannerite under some stumps and shot it. Said it was fun to blow stumps out of the ground.

This

I own 48 acres in the NC mountains. It is all tall trees today, but in 1930 it was a farm and I knew a lady who was picking corn right where my house is in 1930, she was a little mountain girl and she picked the corn with her brothers and her dad. They pulled an ox drawn sled up the mountain to put the corn it. My land is half way flat on the tops. An ox drawn sled with hickory runners.
I often wonder how those hillbillies cleared those stumps back in 1910. Did they dig 'em out and pull them out with a mule, or what? My land is mostly steep, steep but just to clear the 4 acres that are half way flat, they would have had to clear hundreds of stumps.

Often they would hook a block and tackle onto either an ox or a team of mules to pull them out.

Last time I had to deal with trees the wife wanted out of the lawn I left the stumps about 3 feet high and put potted plants on them. She let me get away with that for a couple of years then decided she wanted them out of there. I cut them off and rented a stump grinder. It was a lot of fun and done in short order. I have done a few of these "drill holes and pour stuff in them" tricks, but I much prefer just getting something done now. Explosives are good, under certain circumstances, but that stuff is a lot harder to get these days than it used to be, and around a home a lot can go wrong with explosives unless you really know what you're doing. (I would suggest that most here recommending explosives have little or no experience with them.)

Pretty good video Irving. What a lot of work to pull a stump!

Some poplars certainly WILL come back. I took out 7 hybrid poplars early last spring and ground the stumps. I fought the roots all summer all over the yard. I got some strong brush killer and about twice a week all summer, I'd mix some with water 50/50 and slap it on the shoots with a paint brush. It didn't take much of it. It would knock them dead but more just kept coming up. I never let any get above 6". We'll see if they come back this year. With no leaves all summer, hopefully the roots have starved out by now.

I had the same problem, took out six plus the stumps and probably have about two acres covered with the damn sprouts i plan on trying your method when the snow is gone

A pound of diesel and urea, a half pound of black powder, they both work great to loosen up a stump so they can be pulled.

Put whatever you use in a plastic container, take a couple hundred feet of Romex wire and put the exposed ends in the container. Place it under the stump as far as you can, touch the other end of the exposed wires to you truck battery. You’ll see the stump wiggle, then you can pull it out much easier. It’s a lot of fun too.

I bet the owner of that anchor tree is happy. He’ll have another stump to pull pretty soon, this time I bet he’ll use a stump grinder.

i cut them off close to ground, drill as many 1/2" holes as i can stand to do in it and then i put 1/2 of a split rim truck wheel around it and fill it with the cheapest charcoal i can find and light it up and keep feeding it wood and charcoal for a couple of days. some of these damn things burn for a week or more underground. i have a maple stump that is like a rock. i keep burning it and it still needs more. soft woods go a lot quicker.