How do I remove stumps easily?

[Apprentice_GM]

G'day All,

I've felled a few trees recently including a big one, leaving me with some stumps:

Medium stumps along fence - I left some height in case a machine can push them over easily

My big stump is about 75cm / 30 inch diameter cut fairly close to ground

I've done some interweb searching and people dig small ones out by hand, use large excavators or bulldozers (which I don't have) for big ones, or blow them up (tempting but it's close to my house ~15m away). I've also heard about stump grinders but never used one, always keen to give anything a go once. I heard they charge a daily rate and also teeth wear so the goal is to only let it grind wood.

I reckon it would take many hours to dig around the roots and cut through them or prepare for a stump grinder, I'd like to save myself the labour time if possible, even if an easier method takes months. I heard from a mate you can keep poisoning the stump with something and eventually burn it out, but he wasn't sure what you used or how long it would take before you could burn it.

Any suggestions? The goal is to level my grassed backyard for the kids to play in. I could probably cut the fence stumps close to ground then cover with dirt and grass but the big stump is quite high compared to the rest of the yard. Thanks in advance!

 

[Beer Belly]

We had just the one stump we wanted to get rid of as cheaply as possible. We cut it as close to the ground as we could, covered it with topsoil, and planted a big Hosta in the middle (took out the little one in the picture), and added Mulch.....gonna let it rot

 

[Realstone]

You can attempt to build a fire on it, but beware of root fires.

 

[billb3]

If you need it gone and out of the way today then excavator / stump grinder / dynamite / labor intensive digging ( then you still have the stump to get rid of which in many places you can't bury any more )

I've drilled one inch holes with a forstner drill bit and filled with salt ( salt for those trees that tend to grow back when cut ) and I've tried that stump rot chemical but I'm not so sure it works any better than just the water standing in the drilled holes.

Norway maple stumps rot pretty quick here so I just leave 'em be with a few holes drilled in 'em.
Pine seem to persist forever which seems weird given that it is a softwood that will rot left out in the rain.
Almost all the oak here has already rotted at the base from carpenter ant galleries so I have no idea how long they would persist if they were damage free to begin with.

 

[Applesister]

I asked my next door neighbor to bring his bucketloader over and dug up the stumps here and he told me $100.00 an hour.
My cousin cuts stumps right to the ground with the chainsaw.
Ive heard of driving nails into the wood and rot enhancing chemicals but never done it.
I have rented excavators at 700.00 for a week rent and really prefer them to any other method. You can pull the stumps and move them and if the excavator comes with a landscaping blade, even better!

 

[Jags]

After tearing out a large pine stump with my backhoe, I will be grinding them from here on out. I had a hole that could swallow my jeep to deal with. And it took two years to burn that stump up in my fire pit/hole.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Hire someone to grind it, take the best price...

 

[weatherguy]

Hire someone to grind it, take the best price...

Ditto, I had six stumps grinded for $150, just cut them down close to the ground, you get a little more wood for burning that way and makes it easier for the stump grinder. Makes a mess with wood chips everywhere but I just wheelbarrowed them to my cutting area, keeps the weeds down.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

If you plan to hire someone to grind the stumps, then cut them closer to the ground first. There is no sense in paying someone to grind that much stump. Beer Belly's fix sounds interesting.

Some stumps seem to rot quickly while others seem to not rot at all. We had several near the house but chose to just let them go. Some rotted after 4-5 years while we have 2 that were cut level with the ground about 10 years ago and they are just as solid now as they were then.

The easiest way if someone wants a stump out is to push the whole tree over before you cut anything.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Yew roots will sit in the ground forever.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Looking good Beer Belly.....

 

[STIHLY DAN]

Looking good Beer Belly.....

It's $1.50 an inch (diameter) around here. For it ground out.

 

[Beer Belly]

It's $1.50 an inch (diameter) around here. For it ground out.

I was quoted $4.00 an inch at the widest point.....if $$$ wasn't an issue, I'd grind it and call it a day

 

[Apprentice_GM]

After tearing out a large pine stump with my backhoe, I will be grinding them from here on out. I had a hole that could swallow my jeep to deal with. And it took two years to burn that stump up in my fire pit/hole.

2 years to burn the stump? A hole big enough for your jeep? Wow it must have been massive!

OK, I guess 75cm / 30inches aint that big then, maybe I should grab the shovel and start digging . . . I like the idea of burning it out, will have to wait for next winter as we'll probably have total fire bans until then whilst NSW burns. In the meantime I might look at drilling holes and poisons to kill it, plus hiring a grinder. The quoted rates on this page sound a lot cheaper than here, $700 would get you an excavator for a day not a week here . . . Thanks all as usual, advice much appreciated.

 

[Jags]

2 years to burn the stump? A hole big enough for your jeep? Wow it must have been massive!

I estimated the weight to be over 7000 pounds. My backhoe isn't a big one, but it is an industrial one. It can lift 6000 pounds. I had to roll the stump like a giant beach ball to the burn hole. Every root that hit the ground tore up my yard for the 250 yards it had to be moved. I won't do it again.

Full disclosure: I have done it before and pines typically have shallow roots. This is the LARGEST pine root system I have ever seen. Atypical.

 

[billb3]

Had some pine stumps ripped out like that here.
For ten years blooms of termites would fly out of the remaining shallow roots every Spring. I don't see the birds going crazy trying to eat them as fast as they fly out any more so the roots must have finally rotted.

 

[tymbee]

2 years to burn the stump? A hole big enough for your jeep? Wow it must have been massive!

Having dug out many stumps here when building the house, I can appreciate Jags' situation. The largest were over 3 feet DBH. We hauled them down to the burn pile. Neighbors assured me they'd "never" burn but... after several fires at the site there was nothing left except the rocks & dirt which were packed in around the roots.

As others have suggested, cutting low then grinding below ground level is by far the best method IMO. No "easy" method in any event.

Here's a pic of a relatively tiny stump I yanked out a few weeks ago. About 5 inches in diameter at most but gives you some idea of how one could hide a Jeep in the hole left by a much larger stump.

(broken image removed)

 

[Flatbedford]

Grind 'em. I rented a small walk behind grinder a few years ago and did 4 stumps. It was hard work eve with the machine! I split the rental fee with a neighbor and did a stump for him too. I think It was around $200 for the rental.