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Writer's pictureKiera Peterson

All You Need to Know about Stump Removal

While we often leave the stumps to rot away on their own, after trees are felled due to commercial or other reasons or fall due to natural disasters, stump removal is a must so as to prevent future cases of suckering of the same tree or fungal rotting caused to new plants that are planted there. They also take up space that could otherwise be used.

If it is Systematic, it is Easy.

You need not break your back to remove the heavy stumps. Stump removal can be easy as a pie with the use of the right equipment as well as the right technique. They can also be removed with weed-killers.

You can make use of the following methods for stump removal, according to your own convenience.

1. Paying the Right People to do The Job for You:

While tree stumps can be removed physically anytime, but it's most effectively done by the tree surgeons after they have just felled the tree.

2. Using Chemical Stump Killers:

These needs freshly cut wooden surface for application. So, it is best to apply them immediately after the tree has been felled. If somehow you have delayed this protocol, you don’t need to worry. You can recut the surface to expose fresh wooden tissue and apply the product.

3. Stump Removal Done Physically:

This is told by the experts to be the best possible solution. Although it is ideal to completely remove the stump, if that is impossible for larger trees or deeper roots, alternative methods may be used. Digging around it with shovels, cutting it down with electric saws also burning down the stump with some wooden flakes from before can be helpful.

4. Pulling Out the Stump with a Winch:

This can be used to pull out smaller tree stumps. For such stump removal, you need the expertise of a seasoned gardener who knows how to use it. It is important to leave out a long enough stub on the stump for leverage. The trunk should never be smoothened out to the ground level for this method to be used.

5. Grubbing Manually or by Mechanical Mini-excavator:

Grubbing removes most of the existing root system. Stump removal is easiest if there is enough length of residual trunk remaining so that the leverage helps in removing the stump. You can contact Landscape contractors who are generally skilled at removing stumps. Alternatively, operators and mini-excavators can be separately hired.

6. Using Stump Grinders:

Although effective, these can be potentially hazardous if not used correctly. It is advisable that you take help from a professional who knows how to handle it. The mechanism of the stump grinders consists of grinding out primary root plate of the felled tree. It leaves fine sawdust in its wake.

7. Applying Stump Killers or Weed Killers:

It is advisable to follow the given instructions. The best time to use this method is autumn or winter, as rain can otherwise wash it away. Make sure that it is applied to live tissue, near the outer ring of the bark. If the trunk is a few weeks old, expose some live tissue for the uptake of the chemical.

Tips and Tricks:

  1. It might seem like a lot of hassle to go through a stump removal procedure, but it is totally worth it if you do not wish to face problems like honey fungus or suckering and budding of the same tree that you went through the trouble of felling.

  2. No matter what product you are using, strictly follow the safety precautions regarding dosage and application. Use gloves, Wellington boots, full-body clothing so that the products do not come in contact with your skin.

  3. So as the weed killer is not washed off, it's better to put a plastic sheet covering on top of the stump undergoing removal.

  4. The various methods preferred by weed killer manufacturers may involve treating the entire freshly cut surface of the stump with the chemical, drilling out holes at the edge so as to expose living tissue. These holes are later filled up with granules. An axe or a chisel may be used to create wedges or notches which can either be filled with weed killer granules or even brushed with liquid weed killer.

  5. If time is an issue and not money, getting the professionals to do this difficult work for you might just be the best solution.

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