Forum menu
Its in a back garden which does not have access for heavy equipment etc. I have been looking at various methods on youtube and with mixed results.
Epsom salts appear to be popular. So any experts in the house please?
I have a vague recollection of my grandad(?) promoting the idea of drilling holes, then pouring creosote in each. That was 50 years ago though, when proper creosote was easy to come by. The modern stuff may not be as effective. Sump oil or similar might work. Not exactly the enviro friendly option, I'll grant.
Dig it out. rotting down stumps can lead to fungus that effects the rest of your garden and stump killers pollute
I hired a bloke who had a stump grinder small enough to get into areas with tight access.
STUMPBUSTERS.CO.UK We used to take a slice off the top, Criss cross the stump underneath, add the crystals (linked to above) into the grooves and cover with the slice previously taken off, maybe stick a nail in for security.
That was for sycamores, you're not actually heading for Northumberland are you 😱
I cut a few down to the ground (axe, chainsaw and bow saw) then drilled LOADS of holes and covered them with soil and grass seed. And kept them nicely watered for the rest of the year.
After a couple of years all but the oak weren't even recognisable as stumps any more (had to dig through one).
The oak was sufficiently rotten it just needed 20 minutes with the shovel and it was gone.
Just had to keep a bit of top soil and grass seed on hand to (occasionally) back fill the dips in the lawn.
+1 what @mert says
I find power drilling lots of holes to allow water to collect in them will cause the wood to rot
If it doesn’t detract from the rest of your garden leaving the Trunk to rot will allow “Decaying wood recycles nutrients back into the soil, provides food and nurseries for rare animals, and hosts spectacular collections of fungi”
Yeah, +1 for the @mert approach. So successful that after 18 months with one stump I'd forgotten all about it until a big hole appeared; it was so rotted out it just left a cavity. It gave the woodlice something to be distracted by at least.
Unless it's massive, dig it out with hand tools.
Depending on species, it might sprout from the stump or surrounding roots. You can spray these with normal weedkiller which should eventually kill off the stump. Don't use oils or creosote, unless you want to preserve it for longer. There are stump grinders that will fit through a garden gate, obviously not as fast as a big machine but a lot quicker than waiting for it to rot. Digging stumps out makes you realise why trees don't fall over all the time.
Killing a tree stump
Is it dead wood?, have you thought about injecting it with covid?
To be sure use some glyphosphate, round up etc.
They also make eco plugs drill a hole (in the side) bash them in job done.
Exactly, glyphosate. As above a ring Chainsawed off, then groove the cambium (outer bit of the tree, just inside the bark) pour in a bit of glyphosate, replace ring. If it shoots next spring add more glyphosate, it won't come back again.
Is it dead wood?, have you thought about injecting it with covid?<br /><br />
perfect for the cabinet
Stumps of fallen trees are normally left to decay naturally, as part of the normal cycle, to encourage insects and invertebrates to inhabit it which all helps things to grow. The large park in town had a couple of beech trees that required taking down, one was brought down and the main trunk left, and seats were chainsawed into them for kids, and they’ll naturally decay over time.
Cut the stump as low as you can, drill holes and fill with Saltpetre. It's in some toothpaste, fertilisers, etc. And gunpowder, so don't mix it with anything else!
they’ll naturally decay over time.
Depending on the tree it can take a very long time. I've got numerous stumps of trees that were logged up to 100 years ago!
What I certainly wouldn't recommend is what I did with an old apple tree in my front garden...
Chopped it down to leave about 2ft length, thinking I'd be able to rock it out 😂
Gave up with that after all of 30 minutes and decided to take a different approach. It was in a lawned area so it chopped it down more - to about 40mm below lawn level - then covered it with a patch of turf.
All great for a few years and completely forgot it was ever there. However, I assume it's started properly rotting underground, as once a year we are now treated to a lovely display of bright orange fungi, following the lines of the main root and stump!
Kill it with fire.
many many years ago I worked on a farm in Australia. to remove huge stumps on the pasture land the farmer used to blow them up. Diesel and fertiliser with a small explosive charge to set them off. Quick and easy but perhaps not really sensible in suburbia in this day and age 🙂
Decay over time! A long time. There is a Scots Pine trunk in the grass near the Glen Feshie bothy. Slowly decaying since the mid 1970s when I first visited. Still there. Down it about a foot in height now.
