Stump grinders

Best to remove the tree as low as you can, then dig around the root system and cut them out as much as possible. To finish off drill holes into the ends of the large roots that are left in ground and pour weed killer in them so they don't get shoots sprouting again. It isn't any more labour intensive than other methods and it gets rid of the tree more completely.

Conifers do not normally sprout from roots left, so don't worry about this. we have had a few conifers cut and our neighbours a whole row of them, with no sign of sprouting, even though the stumps were left in.

Regards, VivienB

If they were felled by professionals they may have treated the stumps to kill them off, even if you still see the bulk of the root system in place, so it's best to pour weed killer into holes and make sure.

There was a reconstruction of a nasty accident with a stump grinder on the 999 series a few years ago. That was the first time I ever heard of them.

Thanks,

It's not so much the sprouting that concerns me, rather space for re-planting with the Beech whips (I think that's the term for young saplings).

Rgds Richard

I wrote this bit:

BigWallop wrote this in reply.

I am not solely speaking from seeing these particular stumps - if you ask on a gardening group you will get the answer I gave.

Also, these were all felled by professionals, as were some deciduous trees - they treated (and covered) the deciduous stumps, but not the conifers. And they used appropriate chemical, not just any 'weedkiller'.

As it is, the OP wants to replant more-or-less straight away, so he needs to remove the physical barriers to growth the stumps would present. He also does not want to poison his young hedging plants! As I understand it, stump grinding is expensive to get done. As they are costly, powerful and potentially dangerous pieces of equipment, it does not surprise me that I have not heard of them being offered for hire to the general public.

Regards, VivienB

HSS Hire them from about £100 per day. I've used them in the past and, provided that you're careful and wear the correct safety equipment, they're not too frightening or dangerous. As with anything of this nature, only use it if you know how and a re confident to do so.

Alan

It's our experience too, we have felled a number of Leylandii from 8" up to the 14" or so of the OP. All have simply died with no regrowth from the roots. We only cut them down, we've not done anything to the stumps (except use some of them as ready made fence posts).

No firms I have worked with have offered this service other than as an extra on the bill.

That's my experience also, we had a thread about this some weeks ago.

AJH

For about 2 hours today and it was cold and wet, 1 lawsons cypress

AJH

Thanks,

re-planting >with the Beech whips (I think that's the term for young saplings).

The missus (who did an MSc in Forestry a few years ago) approves of the plan to remove the conifers with the stump grinder and to put in a nice beech hedge. If you were considering another type of tree it would be worth while checking to see if it was acid tolerant (beech can tolerate acid or alkaline), as conifers tend to acidify the soil.

Googled for a stump grinder and found this: