What’s the most effective method please without paying someone to grind it out?

Dig it up

My neighbour hire a small digger and pulled up about 10 fit tree stumps. He said he paid £60 for the day I think. Spoke to a tree surgeon the other day about mine an he said if grinding you still have to dig all around it so the blades don’t catch the soil and stones etc

After trying to burn one out and dig it out by hand I hired a mini digger. Job done in no time and the rest of the day to dig new flower beds.

How big is the stump (i.e. type of tree and girth of trunk at base)? Usually a bit of digging is best, use a mattock to chop the roots around the circumference and heave the soil out of the way. This works up to a certain size, say 18 inches or so. Bigger than that and I’d consider turning it into a wee garden seat instead! But def keep the trunk at least 4ft high for leverage.

You can kill it easily enough by cutting the surface (ideally with a chainsaw) and pouring neat glyphosate/petrol/anything else really nasty into it.

Unless it a a small stump, I’d pay the money for a pro TBH, unless you have lots of time. Digging a large stump out by hand is a chore I’d avoid at any cost. Tends to be easier if you leave a good section of trunk attached, then use this to leaver out the stump.

liftman’s right.

There is a chemical, Ammonium sulfamate, which used to be recomended for accelerating the decomposition. It’s sold as ROOT OUT – but they don’t recomend it for that any more. Don’t know why.

I’d go for digging it up, but if it looks like you can’t chase the individual roots out without destroying the garden, chop ’em off and get the bulk out, and leave a bit of root out on the remnants.
It is a job that just seems to grow as you discover more roots underground, so if a pro will do it or you can use a mini-digger then that’s a good shout. i guess it depends how big the stump is.

You don’t want to encourage honey fungus, it’s a pain to get rid of once it establishes, lives for years and kills your other trees and plants (but apparently tastes sweet).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_sulfamate

Can you post some pictures so us ‘experts’ don’t have to second guess? BTW I do this sort of thing for a living 8)

If you want to kill it to stop it sprouting Ammonium sulphamate [Amcide]. It has to be marketed as a compost accelerator but is safe and easy to use. That won’t get rid of the stumps, but might help them to decay. Digging and chopping the side roots can be hard work, much easier if there is still some trunk for leverage.

Beaten to it by the one above – that’s what happens when the door bell goes mid post.

It’s the only way to be sure…

Eco plug

ecoplug will kill the stump and stop growth but the stump will still be there!

unless you need the space i.e. you just want it removed from sight, I’d recommend just going about it with an axe. Once down to ground level treat with chemical of choice (farmers trick is paint stump with diesel)

Thermite.

How big is the stump (i.e. type of tree and girth of trunk at base)?

It’s about 12″ diameter, tree species unknown – it came with the house I’ve just bought. Apart from being a Yorkshire tighta**e, getting a digger to it could mess up the rest of a mature garden.

Taff, no offence ment by this but your tree sugeon is a plonka!! Why would you spend several grand on a stump grinder and then dig round a stump to grind it out????

A 12 inch trunk is easy to dig out, 2 hours max, a decent mattock and the trunk cut to a 3-4ft stump. You have to persist and not let it get the better of you mentally. You WILL get it out eventually.

A 12 inch trunk is easy to dig out, 2 hours max, a decent mattock and the trunk cut to a 3-4ft stump. You have to persist and not let it get the better of you mentally. You WILL get it out eventually.

Thanks, that’s encouraging. Unfortunately, stump is less than 1ft, so nothing there for leverage. I just hope it doesn’t have a tap root!

It will have a tap root but honestly, shovel muck out of the way so you can see what’s going on, and keep at it with the mattock. You’ll get it, and put a beer in the fridge before you start to keep you going as a reward once it’s done. Once it’s loose enough to wiggle/kick you can get it over to one side and chop any big/tap roots a bit easier.

]Freeride Frankie +1

A good tool hire firm will be able to hire a stump grinder, which will enable you to do the job in your own time. You can just grind the stump with out digging round it its what there designed for 🙂

For trunks upto about 8-10″, we use a tirfor (so long as you’ve another bigger tree to strap it to and a stong enough tirfor of block and tackle).

Leave 3ft or so of the stump proud, use the chainsaw to make a groove to get the cable / rope into around the top and apply some tension bending it over, it’ll drag the roots up and set to with an axe. This worked really well on the 6 or so we did a couple of years back which had roots that spread out sideways, it’s not so great on ones that go straight down. It took about 2 hours to tear the stump and a good length of the roots out on the 6 we did, much quicker than digging and chopping hard way!

I await the several replies stating this is dangerous / stupid / doesn’t work.

Madfly or the one reply pointing out he doesn’t have 3ft of trunk plus finding a shop that hires tirfors will be hard. I have done dozens of stumps in the 12″ range by hand and it’s not a massive job. As I say I’d guesstimate 2hrs comfy with a pick/mattock.

(farmers trick is paint stump with diesel)

This will stop it re-growing but act as a preservative; preventing decay (speaking as a farmer).

Double post

What glasgowdan said. A mattock is the tool for the job. I have one you can borrow if you’re in Manchester. I got through 8 in a day with mine.

Mattock, axe, elbow grease.

Thanks to everyone for the advice, if it ever stops raining I’ll give it a go.

At least all this rain will be making the ground softer for when you start digging!

Glasgowdan is right – be bloody minded and get digging. I used an axe to get through the roots. Plenty of swearing and a cold drink to hand and it’ll be fine.

Simple job made complicated. Just take a bloody axe to it.

5 tonne – 5 minutes
13 tonne – minute and a half
20 tonne – was there a stump in that bucket

diggers are our choice of stump removal, but if there is just one, a bit of persistence with the tractor winch blade will do it.

If you have one stump, it’s in the garden and you are as Yorkshire as you say it will only come out with blood, sweat and tears. Dig, hack, dig, hack, repeat until you no longer have a stump.

Toyota Hilux – tractor weights – big ass chain. Win?