I was wondering if I might be able to get some help from this very knowledgeable group. When the contractor cleared the lot for my house, he of course cleared the area for the house completely, trees, stumps and all. On another section of the property, he cut a LOT of 6-10 inch trees and left the stumps cut off low at ground level. My problem is that these stumps keep trying to grow and for the last couple of years have produced 4-6 foot bushes. I trim the bushes but there they are again growing like crazy the next season. Short of jerking the stumps out by the roots, is there an easy, environmentally friendly way to kill these stumps. I’m not trying to get rid of the stumps themselves, just trying to prevent underbrush they create each year. Thanks in advance for your help. 8T
When we had a number of trees removed here we had a fellow come out and “grind” the stumps out. It took the stump clear down past ground level, and we’ve not had a problem with re growth. Made some pretty good mulch too.
8T,
I feel your pain! Grinding the stumps is by far the best thing to do. If that’s not an option there’s a liquid product from Dow by the name of Tordon RTU that does a great job of translocating down, killing/preventing sucker growth. The cut to the suckers should be fresh for the chemical to work best. Cut the suckers or stump, give a little squirt of the Tordon and let it work. Little bit goes long ways. Don’t do it prior to a rain and don’t let it splash/drift on anything you want to save. As a commercial pesticide applicator I get squeeze bottle of Tordon from a distributor but it’s probably available from local nursery or Home Depot type store. Their version may have another name. Look for something with Tordon’s active ingredients: Picloram (5%) and 2,4D (21%). Please wear rubber gloves. Good luck.
Grassman
Yes I was right — thought of posting that saltpeter would kill stumps so I checked Google. Bore hole fill with saltpeter plug and the tree stump will die. BILL
I know that there are chemicals, like Grassman advised, that may kill the stump, but it will still ‘be there’. You can cut or grind the stump dowm below grade, thus depriving it of sunlight and hopefully killing it…but it will still ‘be there’. Some writer once said that ‘life finds a way’…stumps are hard to kill. Lot of latent life in those roots.
But, taking them ‘out’ works EVERY time…it’s a lot of work, but if you ever need to dig/plant/change the level/or install ANYTHING below grade in those areas, the stumps will be in the way.
Dig around them, cut the roots, pull them out (we switched to a FWD pick up for the pulling power after the mule died). I know for certain that if you remove them, they won’t come back to haunt you ever again.
Eight Thumbs, what you are talking about is an example of coppicing. You can keep cutting the foliage back to the stump every couple of weeks and the trees will die off over the next couple of years. Grinding can be expensive. Depending on the species of the trees involved, it might not even work. You might have the roots sprout back if the trees are from sepcies that are inclinded to do so (some poplars, willows, red alder, etc…) If you want to kill the trees by cutting, you really will need to cut the sprouts back several times a year. There is an ash tree in the U.K. that is over 600 years old. It has been coppiced more or less continuously since it was planted. (It was planted to be coppiced.) Coppicing and the related technique of pollarding are the best ways known to humanity to extend the life of a tree.
You can probably kill the stumps with table salt in lieu of saltpeter, but table salt will hang around in the soil and might kill other things until it washes out. You might be able to build a fire around each stump and burn them to death. The drawback to that is that charcoal, included charred stumps, takes about as long as sandstone to rot.
I’d like to know how it goes for you.
Ed
edit: For some reason or other, I thought that you were in the Pacific NW, so I listed species from that area. Even my geographically challenged mind is vaguely aware that NW SC is NOT in the NW part of the continent. Do you know what kind of trees you are trying to get rid of.
Depending on species, treating the cut stumps with borax can work. When we want to kill trees and leave them standing, copper nails into the base of the tree can do that as well.
Tordon kills about everything. We use it on noxious weeds. I highly advise against drinking or eating it.
On the other hand, bushes make great bird habitat.
If you have time and a large concrete basket type planter in your yard, put the planter on the stump and wait a couple of years. Go buy some fill dirt and your done!
You guys are great! While I’m not a tree expert, I think that most of my intended victims are wild cherry and red oak with a few odd strays throw in. I’ve noticed that the bigger trees seem to die pretty quietly when cut. The two to six inch guys want to keep going. I’ve already had to grind some big stumps out of the front yard and that ran between $50 and $120 per tree which places it out my price range for the back. Even though they are comparatively small trees ($50 dollar range) there are too many of them. Jerking or pulling then out is not practical because of the terrain. I will probably go to Lowe’s and resort to some kind of chemical warfare. Once again, your suggestions and help are greatly appreciated. 8T
brush killer, available at Lowe’s and HD. Dilute about 1:3 with water or diesel fuel. Make a fresh cut and paint on a heavy coat, repeat several times as it saoks in.
the saltpeter (potassium nitrate) route - bore several large (1" or so) holes about 4" deep. Pour in the KNO3 to tthe top. Repeat this as the material migrates down through the stump and into the roots. Get enough in there and when the stump dries out, you can burn it out stump out; it will burn down into the roots. KNO3 is a good oxidizer and promotes the burning. Keep in mind that this will be a veeeery slow burn and will stink (smoke) up the neighborhood for several days (don;t ask how I know this).
If any of those trees are wild cherry, remember that wilted cherry leaves are poisonous to anything that eats them. I don’t know if you have an grazing/browing animals on your place or not, but when wild black cherry (Prunus serotina) leaves wilt, they are able able to generate dangerous doses of cyanide in those tissues. If some of those trees are northern red oaks, they’ll probably quit trying to sprout by the end of summer, if you cut them fortnightly. If they ARE red oaks, you can cut them close to the ground and angle the stump so that water runs off. Then you can get some nice kindling/small firewood every few years. You can cut the cherry trees during the winter, when the leaves have already fallen. These ideas are presented in case you should wish to eschew the chemical route.
Once again my thanks to everyone for their suggestions and input. Apparently, I’m not the only one who has had to knock off a few trees. You really have to respect nature’s tenacity and determination to keep growing. 8T
Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) is sold at most garden centers as ‘stump remover’ for around $6/lbs. I got some at Lowes made by ‘spectracide’ You can get it much cheaper in 50lb bags sold as ferilizer if you have an agricutural supply nearby.
To use it you drill some holes deep into the stump, fill the holes with KNO3. Over a few weeks the chemical breaks down the wood into a punky mass. In a few months it will rot away, or you can accelerate the proccess by placing a lit charcoal biquette on top. The treated wood will smoulder and burn away like a chunk of incense. Be careful if the stump is too near a structure, you might end up slowly burning that as well. The treated wood does not need oxygen to burn and will continue burn deep underground following the roots.
heads up Potassium Nitrate is one of the main ingeidants in black powder mmm 4 inch hole 6 inches deep put in 15 % Potassium Nitrate , 25% sulfer and 60% charcoal tamp set fuse bye bye stump in big cloud of smoke with load bang
Ghost
I didn’t pick the name “Eight Thumbs” by accident. It was carefully selected after numerous bottles spilled head cement, tools epoxied to the fly-tying desk, foot (mine) impalement with a bodkin and many other minor disasters that can’t even be counted. Fortunately, I know my own limitations and making home-made gunpowder is one of those limitations. It would most likely be bye bye Eight Thumbs in a big cloud of smoke with a loud bang. I’m highly allergic to the smell of burning flesh particularly if it’s mine. 8T
