Getting rid of stumps

I don’t really want to pour anything on it as it’s pretty close to my well.

 

I've got so many stumps in my yard and am still not done taking trees down. Waiting till I am finally done and going to rent stump grinder or hire someone.

 

For instant gratification a backhoe removes things rather quickly. If time is on your side and you don't mind drilling pack your stump with urea fertilizer. The addition of the nitrogen helps feed the bacteria that break down organic matter speeding up the stump rot process.

 

I have been pi$$ing on a 10' cherry stump with holes drilled in it for 5 years, right off the side porch.

That sucker is still solid. Guess I need to figure out how to get more urea out of the old urethra.

Probably too watered down with beer distallate.

 

Neighbor was working in his yard on a Saturday evening in the spring and was one post short. He cut a branch off about 6 feet long and 3 inch diameter, stuck it in the hole and nailed the board to it as a post. Didn't get back to it being busy, by mid summer he had a nice post that had sprouted leaves and resembling a willow. 2 years later it is going strong and he said he wouldn't feel right cutting it and killing it, if it faught this hard to live it gets to live.

 

And the nursery business is born...

Rooting hormone is derived from willow bark.

This is known in the business as hardwood cuttings.

 

I get lots of fairly straight sticks for the garden from coppiced cherry and poplar.
Looks like urine salts may have helped keep that one from sprouting ?

 

Well...you see, the tree is a magical tree...it's actually a little over 20 inches in diameter...at least someone caught that.

 

I thought I was the only one who harvested stump sprouts for the garden!

I don't love that little hook on the bottom where sprouted.

There's a really cool video on YouTube showing a guy with a whole split rail fence operation, his raw material is coppiced Chestnut that he harvests over and over from stumps.

 

If you can find someone close by they may pull it cheap for you.

 

Might take awhile and leave a big hole but the little tractor will get it done. Probably will have to get the neighbor to drag it into the woods for me.

 

Grind, burn, or dig and/or pull. I rented a stump grinder for a few hours and found it was not only easy but well worth the money. Probably the easiest and quickest method of stump removal. Not as fun or dramatic as dynamite and some other pyrotechnic methods but certainly simple and easy. If you have never used a stump grinder it’s just kind of like a really think chain saw with thick meaty teeth mounted on a set of wheels near ground level with a long handle like on a lawn mower and you just maneuver it back and forth and up and down. The handle is the lever and the wheels are the fulcrum so its real easy on your back. If I recall I think it took me about 15-20 minutes to turn an old stump into mulch and the job was done.
Sorry for the free plug in this video but it’s the shortest video I saw:

 

You could try to hammer it into the ground with a sledge hammer, which will provably never work but I always hear people say "well at least you tried" so I think it's the fact that you tried that counts.

I have had success several times on smaller stumps with a shovel, cheap axe and truck. Dig, chop roots, dig, chop roots, dig, chop roots, dig, chop roots, dig, chop roots, dig, chop roots, on and on until it's able to be pulled out of the ground. The labor is intensive but it's cheap.
Bigger ones get burnt if they have to be messed with, takes some time but it works. A couple years back my dad was burning a stump out in his yard and had somebody driving by stop and come up to the door to inform him that his yard was smoking. Not sure what they thought was happening, but pretty funny on our end of it.

 

tannerite

 

Stump grinder should be able to get that well below grade and get any surface roots that are visible