So I was finishing cleaning garden beds, had the tiller out and decided to make another mess. White oak stump from this thread Cleaing up the White Oak | Firewood Hoarders Club I dug back a bit, hosed off some dirt. Options are: 1. Pressure washer and ruin a chain or two 2. Call a stump grinder (I'm guessing $150-200) 3. use it as burn pit for the next few years - kinda close to the house so this has almost been eliminated Eliminated options: 1. explosives - proximity to house 2. pulling it - this thing has fan roots bigger than my quads
My stump grinder guy charges about $55.00 for something like that if he has another job in the area. I just wait until he has another job within a few miles. It doesn't take long to grind that out. Just a thought if you find the right guy.
Oak roots aren't deep, however. The fans may be big. But, if you dig around those and cut them the actual stump will pull easily. There's no "Tap Root" with an Oak. It's always a shocker to see a storm blow-over and realize how shallow the root system is on one of them. Now a Sweet Gum will have a tapper running best part the way to China.
Call the stump grinder and save the money of ruining those chains, not to mention the sore back and arms from digging roots for access. Then use the chains that you would have wasted to go cut some more wood.
I'm in the call-a-guy column Till you ruin a couple chains and work your guts, break your truck and tow chains, get rid of the stump, then have to fill the hole back in? How long will it take your stump guy to so this? How long will it take you? Nah , spend your time C/S/S some valuable BTU's.
I would cut it an inch or two below the surrounding ground with an older chain. Then just fill the top with dirt, compress the dirt and add more if necessary. Then rake the surface a little and throw some grass seed down with maybe some straw or whatever on top. That's what I've done over the years and have always had good results.
Rent a grinder? Can probably get a 1/2 day rate pretty reasonable if there are any equipment rentals in your area. I would think you could knock that out in under 4 hours.
Basod, if you don't want to spend the money what worked for me is cut as low as you can even if you got to dig around it and hose it again.. the get a spade bit drill some holes in it and stump rot. Works great ! I got it at farm and garden store. it will take some time... a couple of years.. if it's really in a nuisance area I get excavator to pull them .. good luck. problem I have with grinding is for next few years roots rot and you get holes and I fall in them..
Two ways I have delt with stumps 1st cut top and bottom from 55 gallon steel drum set over stump shoot some vent holes at bottom pour in a gunny sack of lump coal set fire 2nd bore as many 3/4" holes in top of stump as you can with ship auger bit fill with rock salt will rot fast
I have a pine stump close to my house like that, I just cut it about 5" above ground level and placed a large potted plant on it. There's several smaller stumps in my yard that I cut as close to the ground as possible, then used the tip of the saw and criss-crossed a grid about 1" deep with 1" between the cuts. Then I knocked off what I could with a 4lb hammer and after that point they're low enough that I can mow over them without noticing it, and slowly they're rotting away and the grass is taking over.
I like the idea of drilling a bunch of 3/4" holes in the top of the stump, filling them with diesel or kerosene, and then burning it out. Put a half-barrel or an old truck rim around the stump and fill it with hot coals.
I've tried that with a large ash stump that was at the edge of my yard, I didn't get great results with diesel. Later in the summer I dumped about a 1/4 bag of charcoal and let it burn half a day under a steel lid, that actually took quite a bit of the stump away. I've been meaning to get back at it and let it burn all weekend, I think that'd take care of it.
^^^^^ the roots won't be very deep. Dig them out a little more bust out the Sawzall and cut the fan roots. Should pull right out of there with some quick tugs. Just be sure to wrap the chain around your rear axle! Seriously though the Sawzall will work great and the blades don't mind the dirt like a chain would.
The sump rot I've seen in stores has you drill holes and fill with the stump rot. Wait a couple weeks then fill holes with diesel or kerocine and burn it out. I've never tried it yet but I have a couple on the property I might try.
