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Tree Stump

Dilip_UKDilip_UK Posts: 114
in Problem solving
Last Aug managed to remove a 30 foot Laurel tree from the back garden. Sadly the Tree Surgeon was unable to remove the stump due to access issues. I did find another company who could do it with a smaller stump grinder but would have been labor intensive. The quote proved that fact, way too expensive to remove the stump. Due to my health and age, I would not even attempt to try. So gonna have to live with it. Thinking of growing some plants around the stump, perhaps even incorporate it as a feature.  The stump size is 140 x 100 cm, kinda oval shape. Ecoplugs were used on the stump or not sure if i can grow plants around it anyway. Its north facing garden in S. London, does get some sun so not totally in the shade.

Welcome any thoughts and ideas. 

Many thanks
Dilip

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Posts

  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    Hello!

    I think you will just have to be patient as it will eventually die off.  If the tree surgeon was loathe to extract it, then I wouldn't attempt either.  

    You can drill holes in it and put garlic cloves into the trunk or glysophate to hurry the process along.  I had a mulberry tree lopped last month because the roots were lifting the paving stones.  The tree surgeon thought it better to leave the trunk as it would have entailed lifting the paving stones etc etc.  you can imagine!!  He will come back in the spring to drill the holes.
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Dilip  That is certainly a monster!  My only suggestions would be to a) buy some suitable weed killer, drill holes in all the flat areas of the stump and fill them with the weed killer.  (I think there are some 'stump rot' varieties), or b) cover the stump with heavy grade polythene to stifle it.  I'm somewhat dubious about 'b' as I think the root stock will have spread over quite a large area.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I had a big eucalyptus felled around 2010 leaving a stump approx 1.5m across. They treated the stump. I declined having the stump ground out - I wish I had!
    It was only last year when I had a look and stood on the stump, my leg went straight through down to my knee!
    It is rotting very quickly now and easy to dig out, but there is a HUGE hole that I have keep having to fill, and the big roots that have rotted cause depressions in my lawn up to about 30ft away.


    You could research making a stumpery out of it

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    I haven't heard of Ecoplugs before @dbhattuk. Did the tree surgeon say what the success rate is and how long it would take them to work, out of curiosity?
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited January 2023
    There’s no need for Dilip to drill holes and use anything to kill the stump as he says this has already been done by his professional tree surgeon. It will rot down but it will take time. 

    There shouldn’t be a problem planting around the stump, but as the Eco Plugs used contain a form of glyphosate, I wouldn’t plant anything actually amongst the crevices for a few years until the glyphosate plugs have done their work and disappeared. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Stump killer is stump killer.  To use the prefix "eco-" is just plain irresponsible.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    edited January 2023
    I think I would plant something like a spreading variety of hardy geranium around the stump to disguise it as it rots down. Maybe take away some of the blocks to make planting pockets.
    If the plugs are glyphosate, it shouldn't affect the soil.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    Have you any plans for the rest of the ground in that area?  I'd be inclined to remove that circle of rocks around the tree stump as it draws the eye to it.  I'd then dig a bed to incorporate the stump and plant it up with a selection of fast growing perennials or other plants that will suit your soil and conditions.  They will soon blot out the sight of the stump while it rots down.
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • CrankyYankeeCrankyYankee Posts: 504
    I've had stumps in my gardens and just planted around them. Something like a creeping phlox or other groundcover planted among the stumps might grow over it, too, and disguise it. 
    New England, USA
    Metacomet soil with hints of Woodbridge and Pillsbury
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    As a lazy gardener, I always leave the stump and plant stuff around it . The stumps rot away unseen - eventually. I had an apple tree stump with a large red ants' nest in it. That certainly speeded up rotting the process. The ants and I left each other well alone for a few years. 
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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