A Guide to Removing Tree Stumps in Your Landscaping
A Guide to Removing Tree Stumps in Your Landscaping
If you have tree stumps in your landscaping, you may be wondering what the best solution to getting rid of them is. Should you remove them? How do you do it safely?
We are going to be covering these questions and more to prepare you for dealing with tree stumps in your landscaping.
Removing Tree Stumps: Should You Do It?
While there are a few potential cons to removing tree stumps that we will discuss later, there are overwhelming amounts of positive aspects to it. Here are some of the reasons that tree stump removal is important and vital to your landscaping.
1. Aesthetics
The first and most obvious thing to consider is that tree stumps are not an attractive part of your landscaping. They can make your yard look unkempt and shabby, and they will be more difficult to mow and weed around.
Also, stumps can take up valuable space for new trees, plants, shrubs, flower beds, hardscaping, etc. Removing them will give you additional space to work with.
2. Safety
Most importantly, there are many different safety benefits to removing the tree stumps from your property.
– Tree roots: Roots from your fallen trees could cause damaged pipes to burst, and they can also absorb water from leaky water lines, allowing them to spread.
– Physical dangers: If you have children playing in the yard, they could potentially trip over stumps and roots. Also, if the roots continue to grow, they could cause serious damage to nearby sidewalks and even the foundation of your home.
– Pests: Insects like beetles, termites, ants, and other wood-boring pests love tree stumps. Once they infect the stump, they can easily spread to your healthy shrubs and trees as well.
– Fungi: Tree stumps are also able to grow fungi, which can be dangerous for your kids and pets.
The Potential Downsides to Removing Tree Stumps
Now in addition to all the positives, there are a few potential downsides to consider as well.
– If you hire professionals to handle the tree stump, while it is a safer option, it will cost money.
– Once the stumps are removed, there will be an empty hole that could be a potential safety hazard. In this case, it needs to be filled as soon as possible.
– Doing this could potentially cause compacted soil.
With all of these potential issues, there are easy, preventative measures to take and/or easy ways to solve it. Now, let’s discuss how you can remove tree stumps from your landscaping safely.
How to Remove Tree Stumps Safely
If you have decided that you need to have tree stumps removed from your property, we highly recommend hiring a professional to do so. It is the safest option, and while it does cost money, it’s a better choice than risking injury by doing it yourself.
Hiring a specialist will ensure that you get someone that knows the proper ways to grind, rot, or burn the stump down. They will also have their own safety equipment and machinery to do the job correctly.
Typically, they will bring a stump grinder to your home and the whole process will only take a few hours. If you are extremely determined to do this yourself, these machines can typically be rented at local hardware stores.
While burning or rotting the stumps is effective as well, it does take a whole lot longer to complete. A professional will typically drill holes into the stump in question and fill them with potassium nitrate. The substance takes a while to completely go through the stump, meaning that it will be a few days before you see results. Then the chemical mix will be lit on fire, which will smolder in the stump and make it easy to remove.
Not sure who to contact? Here’s our guide on finding the best tree care for you! If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Arborist Now for assistance with your tree stump removal!
