How to remove tree stumps

[George.com]

Hand saw around the trunk until you reach the wooden spike & take the rest of the trunk out. From there car, tow rope, burnt out clutch plate.

rob

[dashaddow]

I have a poplar tree with a metal rod in it (for support when it was a small tree). I cut it down, the stump is 7 feet tall. How can I cut the rest of it down, with the metal in it. The diameter would probably be 3 feet. Thank you. (Can't burn it; live in a city. ) Please contact me if you have some creative ideas.

[Seahag]

Get a chainsaw and turn it into a Totem pole!

Seahag

[loonyhiker]

Cut holes around it deep enough to add soil and plant flowers in it. Make it into a decorative planter!

[dr-solo]

[Dave]

You don't, not with a chainsaw. Break out a pointed shovel and pickaxe. Start digging around the circumference of the tree about a foot away from the trunk. Some use of hands during the digging process will be required. Cut the roots out with a sharp axe after exposed. You may use a chainsaw here if you don't dig up the soil with it. Drape the trunk circumference out about 6' with plastic to keep it from getting moisture. Leave the trunk/stump exposed to the weather. The following winter season, put a few 3/4" eye bolts in the stump about a foot below the top. Use a chain for a guide where to put the bolts. Bolt a sufficiently sized chain to the eye bolts. Tie off to a 2 ton or larger 4 wheel drive pickup loaded down with material for traction. Ease it out in increments, don't rush it. If using a vehicle is not feasible, use a come-along tied off to large tree. Beware of whiplash. Onlookers beware as well. Dave

[William Wagner]

We never cut down small trees if the stump was a concern. We dug them out using the tree as leverage to pry it out. Work but it doesn't have to be done in a day.

Bill

[symplastless]

Other than making a planter (dangerous chain saw work) you could drill some holes and place N fertilizer in the holes. Add some water. The N fertilizer will stimulate the decay fungi and speed up the breakdown process. We do have stump grinders now. I guess you just would have to be careful not to hit the rod with the stump grinder.

The N fertilizer has a bad side and that is that it can pollute ground water.

The planter idea is great. We call it ecoart.

[elaine in ga]

Here is what I did with an old oak log. Thank goodness it was already hollow so it was easy to do. They are also called "nurselogs" when you use a decaying tree as a planter.

I have a picture of another upright popular tree that lightning hit and had to be cut. It was hollow inside too and that was years ago, still using with ferns and dusty miller every summer. If I can locate the picture I will send it also. It has a large main trunk with a split limb side. I stuck plants where there was an opening. It retains water very well and have received many compliments on it. Whatever you decide to do with yours just use your imagination and make it fun. Good luck!

[symplastless]

Elaine

Can you send me some pictures? I will give you credit when I use the pictures. make the file names to include your name.

Also Dr. Shigo coined the term ecoart nurse log. The thing was ecology and art. "Ecoart".

Your picture is great!

here are some of my ecoart pictures.

up "ecoart".

and

[Sheldon]

Hacksaw.

Poplar is one of the largest deciduous tree in N. America but still, a poplar with a 3' diameter trunk is mighty impressive... how did you manage to cut it seven feet in the air... that would be a far more difficult feat. I'm assuming you made an educated guess that the supporting rod wouldn't be much taller, I doubt you have x-ray vision. I figure with your extrordinary mechanical aptitude thinking of a hacksaw would be a piece of cake... I mean like how would you cut a metal rod were it not inside a tree?

Just pick a height and hack away enough wood to reach the rod (naturally choose the shortest route to the rod, I can't imagine it's dead center). Make two hacksaw cuts and remove the short length of rod... chainsaw through the rest of the wood. Now you'll have a stump perhaps a foot above ground. Poplar decays rather quickly. If it's a piece of rebar it will have signicant ridges. After about two years the wood should have decayed enough to yank out the rod... all you need is a loop of chain (a loop of tire chain will work fine) a long crow bar and a length of iron pipe to use as a lever. I know this will work because I've done it, jacked out 12' of rebar that was used as a ground for an electric fence, an old Norway spruce had partially grown around it... the earth held it much more firmly than the old tree. I still wonder how that farmer pounded a 1/2" diameter rod at least ten feet into the ground.