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Fastest non-mechanical means of destroying stumps

17K views 43 replies 25 participants last post by  Robert Webb 
#1 ·
The local power co-op came out last month and cut down two pine trees in our yard and left us two stumps about three inches high and two feet across.

I'd rather not rent a stump grinder to get rid of these things.

What's the fastest method of helping them rot into the gorund?

Steve
 
#3 ·
I have done this but can not say it is the fastest method but by next spring it will have decayed sufficently to be removed with a big kick/ax/hammer tool of your choice!!

Drill several holes in the top of the stump with a 3/8 bit or larger as deep as possible fill with Undiluted Roundup (Glyphosate)!!


Method #2
 

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#6 ·
steve42 said:
The local power co-op came out last month and cut down two pine trees in our yard and left us two stumps about three inches high and two feet across.

I'd rather not rent a stump grinder to get rid of these things.

What's the fastest method of helping them rot into the gorund?

Steve
Dont rent, hire someone to do the grinding!!....that is the quickest way...
prices can be real attractive depending on location....
The price to rent around here is higher than finding someone with the better equipment to grind it down and take the chips....
 
#7 ·
Well there you go. You've got the most expensive, safest and slowest ways:

1. Hired gun - Very fast, very expensive, very safe!

2. Dynamite - Very fast, very dangerous!

3. Round Up - Very cheap, very slow.

4. Time - Free! Very very slow.
 
#8 ·
Ya know, that's the closest that I've ever found of a use for fire ants.

Find you a good, active fire ant mound :hide: (prefereably one kinda close to that stump... you'll see why, in a second), get you a shovel full of 'em and drop 'em on the stump.

Once they set up shop, they seem to eat through them, pretty quickly...

A couple of years, rather than the 10(?) that pine stumps seem to last around here....


:fing32:

Good Luck...
 
#10 ·
a neighbor once wanted to remove a large stump in his back yard. he dug around it a little soaked it with gas and we drank many beers while it burned to the ground. as long as you dont light the gas with a lighter it could be considered non mechanical. ROF ROF since were talking stumps im wondering EDS opinion on this. :trink40:
 
#11 ·
steve42 said:
I guess I failed to mention that the stumps are less than 20 feet from my bedroom wall! :14_6_5:
Wrong kind of rumble in the Bedroom for sure!! :hide: ROF
 
#12 ·
Take a chain saw and plunge-cut some deep slots in the stumps. Then put a big bag of instant-light charcoal on the top and light it. Add more charcoal as or if needed depending on the brand of tree. Some are much wetter than others. The stump will be gone right quick if you get a good hot fire going. Pull up a lawn chair, a cooler full of your favorite beverage, and get out the marshmallow and hot dog sticks and have a bbq.

I once found some potassium-based stuff at a garden supply store that used this same principle. Charcoal works just fine, though. I've also used charcoal to dispose of dug-up stumps as well.

Oh yea, it will burn for a couple of days, so be sure you are comfortable leaving it go and the surrounding area is not liable to light off itself.
 
#13 ·
steve42 said:
I guess I failed to mention that the stumps are less than 20 feet from my bedroom wall! :14_6_5:
Weeeeell, if you place the charge at just the right angle............things should, well, still go boom. ROF ROF

You could always try 1/4 stick for starters :bonk: At least if your soil is like mine nothing but fine sand there won;t be any rocks flying..........

seriously, I would get someone with a stump grinder since they are that close or in the meantime venture down to Lowes or Boggs Pottery and pick the wife up a couple of large planters and place on the stumps until they rot out, which can be by tomorrow or in 12 years in this area, especially if they were yellow or long leaf pine and they have much fat lighter in them. The outer portions usually go pretty quick but that fat in the center can be there for a long time and is very hard on mower blades.

I got 4 estimates in my area (folks thaty do it were from Prattville and Montgomery area) to grind my stumps from the pines I removed earlier this year, and did not feel like having to get a second mortgage on the house to remove the stumps, so we put two whiskey barrel halfs on the two stumps by the patio. May as well make use of the stumps for the time being and planters on them certainly look better than the stumps did.
 
#15 ·
cadurning said:
I used the fire in the stump method a few weeks ago at the kid's house. Worked great but it was tough to keep the fire hot. Didn't think about charcoal. We used diesel fuel.
How many inches to the gallon??? ipg vs mpg
 
#16 ·
IPG. I'd say 1/2 inch per gallon. How about matches per inch? MPI was about 1400 matches per inch. Had to keep lighting that stuff. Initally used gasoline. Gas burned hot & fast but it didn't burn the stump. Felt it was wise to use gas once and not to re-douse the stump whilst it was smoldering.
 
#17 ·
Diesel works better for buring them. Gas is too hot and too intense and burns up too quick. The heat generated pulls any vapors from the liquid that is soaked inthe stump backup and it gets consumed on the surface. Diesel has a tendency to stay deeper and last longer in the stump and does not vaaporize as quick.

I lite a brush pile one time after pouring about 10 gal of JP-4 on it in the middle of August, hot and dry as can be, not a breeze blowing. Pile was perhaps 30 feet of more in diameter and heaped high indian tee pee style with lots and lots of wood. My lighter fell out of my pocket when I went to light it, so I sent the youngin to the house and told him to tell his momma to give him a lighter and bring it back to me. He played around and took a while so I went to the house myself, with the stick I had a rag around also soaked in JP4, which I intended to light and throw in the brush pile. I was still a fair distance from the pile of brush when I struck the lighter, it never touched the rag, but the brush pile lite up like an atomic bomb.............and took off like a rocket..........it was awesome, lots of white hot fire and flames going up and making a huge mushroom........all those vapors were building up in that hollow with the heat......Static electricity will set off JP4.........but it gets the job done.......I just lost some hair and my eyebrows etc.......would have been perfectly fine if I did not have the lost lighter time frame involved.
 
#20 ·
Chip,

I did the same thing with gasoline. Hot day, no wind and vapor buildup. Poured a trail out from the pile...lit it...and the next thing I new I was looking up at the sky..on my back!! :bonk:
 
#21 ·
Heck my old neighbor decided that cutting the drainage swell alongside the road was too much work and besides it had water in it and he would probably get stuck so he decided to burn the ditch out a little at a time.......He doused a section perhaps 20-30 feet long, so it was of a size he thought he could handle just incase it started to spread on him.......he used gasoline.......and a mix of diesel. He fiddled around a bit too long before lighting it, and when he did the gas/diesel had also floated along in the water, and he sucessfully managed to light up about 500 feet of ditch at one time.........I was outside at the time, when he told me not to get concerned if I saw a fire n the ditch, as he was going to burn it clear or weeds and johnson grass........I said no problem.........but then I saw a wall of fire outfront I knew he bit off quite a bit more than he could chew, especially when I saw my ditch burning as well.........
 
#24 ·
You guys are funny, my dad gave me some copper sulfate to kill trees but it doesn't seem to work very well. Was dad wrong?

Mike
 
#25 ·
Not necessarily, It does take a while though!! But it's a real pretty blue to look at while your waiting!!
 
#26 ·
LEOLAV said:
I might try the charcoal method this weekend. I have around 7 ash stumps and 1 huge apple stump. I will start with the big one and see how that goes. Once it burns out, I should be able to pull whats left with the new machine!!!!
If the stump burns well, you'll be left with a stump-shaped hole in the ground with nothing to pull out. I burned one that had been uprooted by a D-5. I was left with nothing but a mound of dirt with root-shaped holes in it.

Before you light it off be very sure the weather and surrounding area is such that you can safely leave the stump burn unattended for a couple or more days.
 
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