problem Willow

[Mike]

haha no ministry of environment. Use of a pesticide off label can be big big money up here.

[Mike]

What I do is this, drill holes in the tree stump, fill with roundup, repeat a few times then burry the stump in some dirt. Come back a month later and you can almost pull the stump out by hand.

[Steveo]

Hey all we need is N Korea to agree now! ha

[Steveo]

How much to have it ground down should be your next question, but carry on.

[ds549]

like others, i run a sapling war all year long with roundup. it doesnt really kill the stump to fast ,but eventually will (years) because if it cant have leaves it cant live. have long fence rows and find it easier to spray saplings when little rather than cutting them down when big. lucas

[Loren via HomeKB.com]

[Mike]

Under a deck though?

[Eggs Zachtly]

It probably should have been ground out prior to building the deck, but I suppose that's moot. =)

If the deck is screwed together, it should still be an option. Perhaps a bit labor-intensive, but an option nonetheless. Simply a matter of numbering the undersides of the boards, as they're removed to make it easy to replace them.

The problem I see with using some chemical to "dissolve" the stump, would possibly lead to a stability problem with the deck. Nothing like a nice cavity appearing under a foundation. Which actually brings up the question of whether or not removing the stump from the ground will cause damage to the deck's support areas. Sure, you could kill it off with some Roundup, but there's still the remains of the stump to be dealt with.

A pic of the area would be a plus. =)

[Loren via HomeKB.com]

Admiting that in hindsight, it should have been ground before the deck. But as I mentioned in the initial post, I had taken out stumps before and they had stayed just stumps for years. So cutting this low enough to build a deck over did not seem like an issue. I would have an ugly stump, but it would be under the deck and never seen. I just wasn't familiar with WIllows - I am now.

Don't know why I felt the need to explain this... Maybe b/c I appreciate the help.

Eggs Zachtly wrote:

[Loren via HomeKB.com]

I'll get a pic to illustrate.

Thanks

[Steveo]

Well it was probably an option before you built a deck over it eh? :-)

Don't tell anyone but I've killed one of those willow stumps with kerosene in small regular doses. There wasn't deck over it though, and I was able to set it on fire eventually..it took better than a year to finally die. You can't let the kerosene get on the surrounding grass or plant material.

[Steveo]

How far under, and are there posts in the way?

[Eggs Zachtly]

'Tis why I said it was "moot". But, you still haven't answered, as to my other points.

Is the deck screwed together, so that it could be partially disassembled, in order to grind out the stump?

Is the stump situated in a position, so that were you to remove it, you would be jeopardizing the integrity of the deck?

Yup, was no reason to explain. "Manure occurs." ;)

[Loren via HomeKB.com]

The decking is screwed on but the joists are nailed. Taking the decking off woudl get me better access for drilling, but not allow a grinder. ALso withthe grinder - my house sits significantly above the street and alley. There is not ramp, driveway or hill to roll anything up - only stairs and retaining walls, so it woudl be difficult to get any type of serious grinder up there.

I have a picture, its not a great one, but if it possible to upload to this site and someone can tutor me how to do it, I would get it up for viewing.

Thanks

[Eggs Zachtly]

Understood. Still, having as much access to the stump as possible will help, no matter the method you choose.

"Serious" grinders are self propelled. =)

As this isn't a binary group, it's best to not attach it to a message. Uploading it to one of the miriad of free web sites, and then posting the link to the pic here, would be the best way to go. If you're unsure where to look for one, entering "free image hosting" in your favorite search engine should get you started.

HTH

[Loren via HomeKB.com]

Tree AND Internet knowledge. You people are amazing!

Here's the link

it is now dark when I leave for work as well as when I get home, I wasn't able to get a good daylight picture of the stump. It is deceiving, but there is about 8 inches between the top of the stump and the bottom of the deck. And the stump is about halfway under the deck. There is about a three foot cantilever, so the stump is a good distance away fromt the footing.

What you see is about 5 weeks growth.

[Eggs Zachtly]

What kind of Salix was this, again? I'm not sure you said. If you did, I can't find it. =(

If it were me, I think I'd still opt for removing the section of the deck that's over the stump, and remove it (the stump) properly (grinding). If you're careful, you shouldn't damage any of the joists, when removing/replacing them.

[Tomes]

Nice picture posting. If it were me I would probably pick off all of the new growth as it buds out of the stump until it finally gives up. This would mean doing it often. The idea is to not let it get this big, which is replenishing the roots with its sunlight generated food.

I know that this comment is about different plants, but I do this for big old multiflora stumps that I cut down and also wild grape vines. Both of these persist and I keep at them until they give up and rot out after a couple of years. If I had this problem I would use the same approach and see how it goes, expecting it to work eventually. Tomes