We bought a house with both overgrown garden, mature trees and dozens of hidden stumps from rhododendron and blackcurrant (largest of which had grown through the glass of a greenhouse and was the diameter of my thigh…!)
The last few stumps are now rotted enough to get out. Apart from this b*gg*r. I’m thinking fire, but other suggestions welcome. The hole is about 75cm deep so far, no roots.
Fire on stumps is usually more difficult than expected, charcoal protects thick timber pretty well. I’d have a good hack at it with a felling axe first, if only to give the fire more surfaces to attack on.
I’ve got what I refer to as the bastard stump in my garden. I tried to remove it once. Dug around the circumference and started rocking it a bit. The garden wall and driveway moved a bit with it. I put a nice Acer in a big pot on top of it. That was four years ago. True story.
I plan on cutting down some – it’s 40cm proud of the ground at present. I’ve only got a little 16″ Bosch electric saw though, it’s going to struggle even with a new blade on
It is dry enough – been under a bucket all winter and the tree was felled 3 years ago.
Make sure you clear enough of it from below ground. We had to fell an oak in our garden and the stump at ground level spread to a 5 foot diameter. We had that ground a few inches below soil level and filled over the area. Over 3-4 years, the remaining stump rotted leaving a crater to develop.