# Killing stumps



## TrogL

I had to take out two large trees in my front yard. Bugs had gotten into the birch so bad that when it fell it exploded into kindling. Someone had used steel wire to hold up half of a mountain ash (when I got it down and chopped it up I also found a huge steel bolt embedded inside the trunk) and near as I can tell it poisoned it.

Now all I've got left are the stumps. 

Apparently there's something I can pour on it (or stick in it) that will rot them out. None of the local stores seem to carry it. One gardening store had something but was out of stock.

What is it? How much? How do I use it?


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## Elmore

*I'm stumped???*

Here are some ideas :
http://www.agctr.lsu.edu/en/environment/forestry/urban_forestry/Stump+Removal+from+Home+Grounds.htm


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## BlueRidgeMark

I've been told that using a septic tank additive such as RidX will greatly speed up the decay. I have some stumps here that are going to be guinea pigs for me. The recommended method is to bore a few holes in the stump, soak it with the additive, then cover with plastic. I'm told if you do that this fall, by spring you can run a roto-tiller through what's left.


OR you can buy a commercial stump rotting product (which is probably the same stuff) online. Search on "Bonide stump out".


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## Dan F

Straight Urea fertilizer will speed up the process. Drill the holes and dump it in.

There are commercially available products, I'll look when I go to work tomorrow to see exactly what it is called.

FWIW, the fastest way is obviously grinding.....


Dan


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## stumpy66

Tree stumps are no different to any other sort of wood where decay/rotting is concerned..the only people who say that they can excelerate, to any useful degree, rotting, are manufacturers of poisons used for stopping suckering after the tree has been cut down...i.e stopping regrowth..... If you want it gone..blow it up, or grind it....burning doesn't work, introducing a heart wood rotting fungus sounds difficult and you will still have the problem of removing any remaining wood after 5-10-15 years.....grinding would be the best way forward.......not that i am biased...


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## smokechase II

I think the stump grinder folks are right. Digging them out by yourself is a passage into manhood.
We still have stumps in Central Oregon all over the place from the railroad crosscut loggers of the 1930's and 40's. (This is an extreme example in a seriously dry environment.)
If you were to rot them out. I would dig down just a little and rinse the dirt off and cut the stump flush with the ground. Then go with your holes and fertilizer or whatever. Some work, but not too bad and they will not bother you as much over the next decade.


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## Al Smith

Two old tricks for stumps.One,cut them flush with ground then bore a series of holes about 2 or 3 inches deep in them.Pour into these holes some dehydrated milk powder.Them them alone.The milk stuff will accelerate the decay.
Two,do all the things in number one,but saturate the stump with diesel fuel,several times for about a month.Light the sucker on fire,it will smolder for days but burn most of it out.
Then of course is to call the stump grinder guy.Fast,efficient and you have some nice mulch in the process.


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## stumpy66

I am not saying that it won't work, but how the hell does dehydrated milk powder accelerate stump rot...does it attract fungi...beavers..termites.....is it one of those things your grandmother might have told you....just interested....


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## Al Smith

I don't have a clue why it works but it does.Grandmother you say.Heavens no,granny used dynamite.Tough old gal .
Which brings up a rather funny story.These 2 clowns,near Spencerville O hio had a large oak stump they wanted rid of.They tried dynamite,several sticks of 30 percent jumbo.That just shook the big thing.They then had a master plan to mix up a batch of AN-FO.Well it about put the stump in orbit and it fell through a barn roof right on the hood of a new John Deere 4020 and broke the frame of the tractor.All in all only a partial victory.


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## stumpy66

i would love to have a pop at blowing up a stump.......suspect it is not going to happen and probably just as well.......i will remember the dehydrated milk powder and may try it on a stump i have in the garden...(do you have to cover it...otherwise surely when it rains it will just be milk!)


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## smokechase II

Mr Al Smith:
How could you give us a story like that and fail to include photos?
However, I'll see that story and raise you. On the Oregon Coast we had a beached 8 ton whale. Yep, the preferred disposal method for the Oregon Dept of Transportation was a *half a ton of dynamite*.
Please see; http://www.snopes.com/critters/disposal/whale.htm#add and then click on the (Infamous Exploding Whale Page-icon). I love the quote about explaining this to my insurance agent. The video is OK if you do a broadband. 
Look, I realize that this is off the forum slightly, but I couldn't hold it back.


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## Al Smith

I have a friend who is commercial accounts manager for waste management inc,in Daytona Fla.He tells of a similar incident with a smaller whale.They were smart enough not to blow it to kingdom come but some how got it to a landfill.
In the 60's I once helped a man dynamite stumps.All I did was auger the holes,he sat the charges and detonation.This guy was good.He could just lift a 3 ft stump ,up about 4 ft in the air.As I look back on it,at that time riding around in an old rickity pick up with 4 or 5 cases of dynamite didn't bother me.It would today.They say ignorance is bliss.
I know nothing about setting charges and don't care to learn.


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## Hum73

kudos on the whale story, i downloaded the video and was rolling!
especially when they showed the old guy staring at the car that was 
destroied by a huge chunk of whale flesh a 1/4 mile away. Funny stuff!


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## BlueRidgeMark

stumpy66 said:


> I am not saying that it won't work, but how the hell does dehydrated milk powder accelerate stump rot...




Maybe the sugar in the milk powder? That would feed bacteria pretty well.  


I'll let you all know if the septic stuff works. I've drilled, dosed, and covered up 3 stumps now. One is oak, one is alanthus (yech!), and dunno about the other.

I have several cedar stumps yet to do, and if it works on cedar it will work on anything!

I also have about 6 pines waiting to be made into stumps - I plan to try it on them, too.

Come next spring, I may be renting a stump grinder to finish the job. 


Even if it works, I'm not sure it's going to turn out to be better than grinding. I could easily do all of the above stumps in a half day with a grinder - I may spend that much time or more messing with this method. I think this will have to work VERY well to make it worthwhile. If I have to go after roots with a grinder, I've wasted my time...

But, it's an interesting experiment.


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## stumpy66

well if you keep us informed ....i don't see it as a waste...hell...we might even owe you a drink!!!!


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## lumberjach

Six weeks ago I bid a job for an old timer. He had two oak stumps about 30 inches in diameter both 8 inches tall. They were cut at the same time. A year ago he had drilled holes in one and poured buttermilk on it. I kicked the untreated stump and it was as hard as it was the day it was cut. I kicked the other and I kicked the whole thing out from under the surface probably 3-4 inches down. I was amazed.


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## Al Smith

I now the milk stuff works,I just don't know why.Wish I did.


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## Ax-man

Just a guess but if this buttermilk thing works, what happens to butter when it is left unrefrigerated and is allowed to fester and spoil, turns into buturic acid. Just guessing this is what happened to the stump, a mild fourm of buturic acid ate it up.

Larry


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## lumberjach

I have heard it becomes a bacteria that rapidly speeds up deteriation. I have also heard that buttermilk is everybit as good as the leading septic tank products.


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## stumpy66

Can i suggest that we keep the buttermilk thing to ourselves....some of us have a living to make.....i wish i had never heard about it.....how is an honest man to advocate stump grinding as the only effective solution when i now know about butter milk..... (would love to know why this works... as would we all by the sounds of it).


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## smokechase II

stumpy66:
Put some food coloring in your butter milk, and sell yourself as a purveyor of a secret miracle potion for stumps.
There is still money to be made here.
Lets everyone drop this thread. Quietly


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## stumpy66

lets not mention it again....agreed..


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## BlueRidgeMark

Time, gentlemen, *time*. All of these home remedies take a lot of time, and not everyone is willing to wait. For those folks, there are stump grinders.


I guess I'll have to try buttermilk on some of my soon-to-be stumps...

It's got to be cheaper than septic additive!


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## BlueRidgeMark

BlueRidgeMark said:


> I'll let you all know if the septic stuff works. I've drilled, dosed, and covered up 3 stumps now. One is oak, one is alanthus (yech!), and dunno about the other.
> 
> Come next spring, I may be renting a stump grinder to finish the job.




I'll be renting the grinder. The septic stuff was a waste of time. Got some soft wood (max 1/8") around the holes. Some holes, nothing. Some stumps were covered in plastic, some just with dirt.

No difference.

I may try the buttermilk sometime, but my current crop of stumps is going to get the grinder treatment.


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## stumpy66

better job i say.....stumps require direct action.......take the tree back to its roots..:notrolls2:


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