For Drilling Holes In Tree Stumps

[George E. Cawthon]

I like the part "A story is told..." for that is certainly what it is. Anybody that was in charge or actually involved in burning ammunition dumps would wonder why he has never seen again.

[George E. Cawthon]

Any farm/fertilizer/lawn care/etc. store. Simpler to just buy any standard fertilizer, especially sacks of ammonium nitrate. You buy this stuff anywhere else and you will pay 4-5 up to 20 times the price.

[escapee]

Yes, but the carbon in the stump is not immediately available for it to mix with the N and get the heat process started. It's just a temporary expeditor, or catalyst to help the N work faster. It also feeds the microbes which will further break down the stump and large roots.

Need a good, cheap, knowledge expanding present for a friend?

[escapee]

No, higher. One of the more idiotic types with, say, 40-10-10.

Need a good, cheap, knowledge expanding present for a friend?

[escapee]

Actually, I had a stump ground out about 6 years ago in Dallas and it cost us about 45 dollars for someone to come do it.

Need a good, cheap, knowledge expanding present for a friend?

[George E. Cawthon]

No. 10 percent is low. Garden ferilier is often 15-15-15 which is 15 percent nitrogen and standard lawn fertilizer is 23-?-? which means 23 percent nitrogen. Amonium nitrate will give the highest amount of nitrogen and is 35 percent nitrogen (if I added up the atomic weights correctly). Potassium nitrate is only 14 percent nitrogen.

[Dave Balderstone]

That sounds about right. I asked a tree service about grinding (I'm in western Canada) and for the three stumps it worked out to about $200 CAD. This service charged by inch of diameter.

djb

[BroJack]

Hell, I'd be happy at that price. Internet says $300-400 per tree average. Estimate scheduled for today. Let you guys know.

Jack

[indago]

040604 2008 - escapee posted:

I was watching a program on the building of the Erie Canal a few years back and one striking accomplishment I noticed was the method used for removing tree stumps. They had two huge wheels, looked like about 4 horses high from the drawing, with an axle between the two. The axle was placed over the tree stump and a chain was fastened around the axle and then around the tree stump. Chains were then placed around the wheels and then to a team of horses and the wheels were pulled forward. The leverage was such that the stump would easily be removed. It was said that this method was quite effective for its time.

[davefr]

"Pump diesel into the soil"???

No, you fill the holes you drilled >>

[RB]

I tried fuming sulfuric and fuming nitric and all those did was to reduce the immediate volume around the holes but the remainder of the stump remained. Looking back I think the majority of the removal was facilitated by the microbes that digested the stump. All I had to do was keep it moist and fertilize it. I spent over 5 years rotting the thing out. It was in such a tight place that I couldn't get a stump grinder in.

I tried a small army of Mexicans but after watching them work for a while canceled that. What I didn't need was a Mexican in an emergency room. Careful they're not.

RB

George E. Cawth> No chemical will desstroy the stump except maybe fuming sulfuric acid

[Dan Hartung]

Mechanical advantage is the bomb.

But who can store a wheelset four horses high?

[The Watcher]

Ah, so you're sure that none of that diesel will go into the soil? I wouldn't bet on that happening. Get it? ;) Diesel isn't one of the things I like pumping into the ground.

[The Watcher]

There's another device I've seen for pulling stumps. It's a homemade gadget made from a metal tire rim and a piece of I-beam and a couple of pieces of chain. It's basically a big lever to pry the stump out of the ground with the tire rim acting as the fulcrum.

[Bill Oliver]

In article , The Watcher >saturate the stump and then burn. Get it??

Your problem may be that you are drilling holes into the ground, rather than into the stump. Try drilling into the stump. That way you won't "pump" diesel into the ground.

billo

[Bill Oliver]

How long would it take for a stump say, oh, 6 ft (or 1.8 meters) in diameter and

2 feet (or 0.6 meter) in height to decompose this way given a Southeast US climate?

billo

[The Watcher]

If you think ANY stump is watertight you might want to try drilling into a few of them. I wouldn't bet on any stump containing anything completely. Yes, you would be pumping it into the stump, but it will be escaping from the stump into the ground. Stumps interact with the soil around them. That's their purpose. If they were liquid-tight they wouldn't do much good for the trees, would they?

[Bill Oliver]

In article , The Watcher would be pumping it into the stump, but it will be escaping from the stump into

There is a difference between "pumping diesel into the ground" and saying that there *might* be some diesel that is incompletely burned that escapes into the ground.

So, let's say I pump 1/2 liter of diesel into a into a 1 meter high 2 meter diameter stump. I then burn that stump to the ground. How much of that 1/2 liter do you actually claim will be (a) unburnt and (b) in the ground?

billo

[davefr]

[Chuck]