Removing (a large and fresh) tree stump

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JoeJoe 10 years ago

Had a (Cherry) tree removed a few days ago, and want the stump out of the way.

Diameter of the stump is around 50cm+ - the tree was around 15m+ high - with some serious visible roots as well, so using my usual method of digging looks like serious hard work.

A quick look at Google suggests drilling plenty of 1" holes, around 10" deep, filling with Potassium nitrate granules, then water, and leave for around a month to rot before breaking it down with a mattock or similar.

Sounds a bit too good to be true...

Has anyone had an experience with this method? or car perhaps suggest an alternative?

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Davey 10 years ago

That is one possibility, of course. I believe Jeeps are good for that sort of thing. There was an ancient Rolls-Royce used in Australia for this purpose.

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F Murtz 10 years ago

Bought the potassium nitrate for that purpose a year ago but have not had one of those round things yet but will tell you if I ever get one.

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The Natural Philosopher 10 years ago

MInidigger.

Unearth the laterals with that, cut them if they wont pull up and then hoick the thing out

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harry 10 years ago

There's always this method.

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harry 10 years ago

I didn't think one could buy potassium nitrate in the UK any more.

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Chris Hogg 10 years ago

Some suggestions for removing stumps on the RHS web site, here

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. For chemical methods they suggest a proprietary stump killer, most of which contain glyphosate (note that the lovely EU is about to ban glyphosate for amateur use). But I'm not sure this will accelerate rotting, but merely kill the stump and prevent regrowth either from the stump itself of via root suckers. Potassium nitrate is available on ebay (which surprises me. Expect a visit from the security services?)

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But again, will it accelerate rotting? I'm not convinced. Stumps can take many decades to rot away. For complete and certain removal of the stump, hire a stump grinder and d-i-y

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although the underground roots will remain.

Failing any of that, make a feature out of it!

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Capitol 10 years ago

Rent a stump grinder for a day, about £80 I think.

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Jim Chisholm 10 years ago

Once you've cut down the trunk to the stump, you've reduced the options! Leaving a 3m trunk at act as a lever, enables a hand winch or a motor vehicle to help. If stump is still stubborn, dig a trench a metre or so out and chop through large roots opposite direction of pull. Removed numbers of 20 year old trees on a canal restoration project using a Land Rover and the clutch survived.

Jim

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Dan S. MacAbre 10 years ago

I once pulled a cherry tree down fairly easily with just my old Fiesta by pulling it down /before/ chopping it. Made sure the rope was high up for plenty of leverage.

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Huge 10 years ago

Good luck buying that these days.

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Huge 10 years ago

This.

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JoeJoe 10 years ago

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Huge 10 years ago

[20 lines snipped]

Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.

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Nightjar 10 years ago

On 20/04/2016 08:26, Chris Hogg wrote: ...

I know of an amateur rocket experimenter who became a person of interest to the Police after buying ammonium nitrate.

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Chris Hogg 10 years ago

It's the principle oxidant in many of the sort of bulk industrial explosives used in e.g. quarrying, usually mixed on-site immediately before use and poured straight down the drill-hole, to avoid having local stocks that could be stolen, apart from being a common fertiliser for agricultural use.

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www.GymRatZ.co.uk 10 years ago

Farm Jack Not tried it but seen it done though not on a really big stump.

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JoeJoe 10 years ago

Oops - was the top of the page on Google, but didn't look carefully enough...

Plenty of others on eBay and elsewhere though.

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harry 10 years ago

"Currently unavailable".

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bert 10 years ago

In article , Davey writes

Go British - Land Rover Defender does a good job. Unfortunately sounds like the OP has already chopped off the trunk.

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Removing (a large and fresh) tree stump

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