Tree stumps

[Dylan123]

I have a few tree stumps in the gravel border I am creating.

I am not attempting to dig them up due to time and from what I hear it’s an absolute nightmare of a job!

They were felled last year.

Question is, they have been left for a year and are a bit dank and wet. Can I preserve them when it dries out? I could put plant pots on them…or I could do the Epsom salts thing and let them decompose…if I do that, what happens? Do they just break down or will I have to go back in a year and scoop out the rotting mess?

Other idea is to build a little deck over them and put pots on the deck.

Just not sure what happens when you rot them.

 

[smashpotato]

I would just dig them out, I know some can be absolutely turd to do, but I’ve done three now and they were a lot easier once started.

It would be another story if a big oak or something but they are quite small.

 

[Dylan123]

I would just dig them out, I know some can be absolutely turd to do, but I’ve done three now and they were a lot easier once started.

It would be another story if a big oak or something but they are quite small.

So I have one of those electric chop saws and a spade. If I dig out the soil around and just slice through the roots with the electric saw then if I jam a fork into what remains and pull hopefully it will come out?

 

[smashpotato]

So I have one of those electric chop saws and a spade. If I dig out the soil around and just slice through the roots with the electric saw then if I jam a fork into what remains and pull hopefully it will come out?

I dug out with a spade and a tool off Amazon called a mattock. I didn’t have electric saw so just cut roots with secateurs, Small hand saw etc.

I then used the mattock to get under some area and put weight on it.

 

[Mike13]

An electric saw will get blunt quite quickly with the coating of soil on roots, best dug out by hand really.

 

[StephenOak]

IMO the key thing when cutting down a tree is to decide if you want to remove the root stump first. If you do then don't cut it the trunk off low down but c. 3-4 foot up. This gives you leverage to help break the roots. This is a bit late for you now, but may help someone in the future.

For scraping out soild so that you can, hopefully, see where the roots are I would us a 'thingamadig', for an example see

The Thingamadig is an essential gardening tool for every home

The Thingamadig is an essential gardening tool for every home

www.timberraisedgardenbeds.co.uk

I use mine loads, for lots of digging tasks. It gets in places a trowel won't and holds more soil.

I don't know what you mean by a chop saw, but anything you use in the ground will, as @Mike13, says get blunt. For cutting roots I would use an old pair of secateurs and, on thicker ones, an old pair of loppers. If you can't cut them with loppers then a pruning saw may be appropriate (knowing you will probably damage it) or a demolition saw as you can easily replace the blade.

 

[Deluks]

Mattock for those little things. If you have a reciprocating saw, they are handy for severing roots.

 

[Dylan123]

I have a mattock.

In the end I had to axe it from the top and split the stump repeatedly from the top.

Is that how it’s supposed to be done?

The roots were THICK like 3-4 inches some of them, not sure if the mattock would do it.

I cut all the roots with the saw and tried to prise it up with a spade. It wobbled nothing more.

I then bought the mattock and tried to use it to lever up. This stump was about 14 inches diameter. In the end I just axed it from the top until it disintegrated.

This first one had been in the ground a year and it was a bit rotted.

The next on I have is smaller but a different harder wood and I tried briefly but it seems much harder.

I presume you locate the roots, chop them with the axe end then try to prize up?

Or split from the top? It will eventually break down but will take a long time.

It took me 3.5 hours to do the first one.

 

[Dylan123]

Mattock is the only tool for the j

Mattock for those little things. If you have a reciprocating saw, they are handy for severing roots.

There is no way in hell either of them would come up with a mattock underneath. I’m 16 stone and with my full weight on it, having cut the roots for 2 hours it wouldn’t move.

They look smaller in the pic than they are!

 

[Deluks]

The trick with the mattock is to completely ignore the stump itself, try and dig around until you hit the roots and sever/smash through them. Then the stump can be levered out.
You could contact a tree surgeon with a stump grinder, they'll have those out in about ten minutes flat.

 

[Dylan123]

The trick with the mattock is to completely ignore the stump itself, try and dig around until you hit the roots and sever/smash through them. Then the stump can be levered out.
You could contact a tree surgeon with a stump grinder, they'll have those out in about ten minutes flat.

Do I smash through them with the flat end or the vertical end?

 

[Dylan123]

Precisely. I thought this was common sense.

Wrong house, sir

 

[Youcandootherthings]

Do I smash through them with the flat end or the vertical end?

I’d give it a smash Dylan mate Give it a clout

 

[Dylan123]

I’d give it a smash Dylan mate Give it a clout

Nobody told me it would be hard work

 

[Dylan123]

I’ll give you a clue, it’s not the handle

There’s two side to it. One has a blade horizontal to the handle, the other is like an axe, vertical to the handle.

Makes sense it’s the Horizontal one.

Things might seem intuitive but bear in mind I work in a professional job and I’ve spent more time measuring my knob with dental floss than operating axes, mattocks and assorted other peasant implements.