Need ideas to get rid of a couple of maple stumps

[sixdogs]

5030--Great advice.

I have killed lots of trees with glyphosate and I do it a little differently that also has worked 100%. I cut the tree down and immediately paint the edge of the stump surface with straight 41% product. You have to it within a couple of minutes and I brush on the stump liberally. Every one dies. This is not my idea but was in the info booklet that came with the product.

Your method of burning, when I do it is something I will adhere to. Do you think the diesel fuel soaking in will affect trees that are very close to the stump?

 

[Fossil Farm]

Instead of drilling holes, use a couple wood splitting wedges to open up the stump a bit more if you can. Will get more air and water into the stump faster to decay it. Worked good for me on some 8 to 10 inch stumps over the winter. Might need to dig around the stump a bit to allow for some movement since they are cut at ground level.

 

[5030]

5030--Great advice.

I have killed lots of trees with glyphosate and I do it a little differently that also has worked 100%. I cut the tree down and immediately paint the edge of the stump surface with straight 41% product. You have to it within a couple of minutes and I brush on the stump liberally. Every one dies. This is not my idea but was in the info booklet that came with the product.

Your method of burning, when I do it is something I will adhere to. Do you think the diesel fuel soaking in will affect trees that are very close to the stump?

No, not at all. I've roasted stumps within 2 feet of a living tree (using the diesel method) with no issue.

They way you can readily tell the stump is aspirating the Roundup, is by watching the color change on the face of the stump. The Gly will co on basically clear and then changes to an orange hue as it gets aspirated in and mixes with the sap.

I cut them down, clean up everything, big stuff gets sawed to 19" long lengths for my firewood guy and the smaller stuff (2" and over) gets cut to bucket length (6 foot) for him to cut later. Everything else gets run through the chipper and the chops wind up under the trees. When I'm done, the last thing I do is take a slice off the stump to expose fresh wood and lay on the Gly, drill it and put in epsom salts and let it sit for a couple months and then come back (it will be gray by then) and bore some more holes and pour in diesel a couple times....and light it up with my barrel and Match Light Charcoal (I prefer Knigsford.......:laughing:

 

[5030]

Instead of drilling holes, use a couple wood splitting wedges to open up the stump a bit more if you can. Will get more air and water into the stump faster to decay it. Worked good for me on some 8 to 10 inch stumps over the winter. Might need to dig around the stump a bit to allow for some movement since they are cut at ground level.

Thats right, the OP cut at ground level so splitting wedges to open the face up might be the right method.

 

[sixdogs]

Thats right, the OP cut at ground level so splitting wedges to open the face up might be the right method.

Very interesting and very good.

Another way to kill trees with glyphosate is to do it when the tree is dormant such as fall or winter. Just cut down and immediately paint the edge of the stump with 41% gly. It doesn't take much.

You can also do this so the tree dries while standing. To do this you just cut a one inch deep circle around the base of the tree with a chainsaw and slather in the glyphosate. Tree is killed and dries while standing over the winter or whatever. Then cut it down in the Spring. As overkill at that time I also cut the stump a little below the original cut and again paint the edge with gly. They all die and never had one survive.

 

[5030]

Very interesting and very good.

Another way to kill trees with glyphosate is to do it when the tree is dormant such as fall or winter. Just cut down and immediately paint the edge of the stump with 41% gly. It doesn't take much.

You can also do this so the tree dries while standing. To do this you just cut a one inch deep circle around the base of the tree with a chainsaw and slather in the glyphosate. Tree is killed and dries while standing over the winter or whatever. Then cut it down in the Spring. As overkill at that time I also cut the stump a little below the original cut and again paint the edge with gly. They all die and never had one survive.

I did that with a Tree of heaven that was growing by the house (about 15 feet high). Peeled the bark back 1" wide by 5" and applied Gly and a Amine mix and it literally croaked in an hour.

Usually, if you girdle a tree (cut the bark and cambium layer all the way around), the tree will croak without any outside help (Gly). You cut it's blood supply off.

 

[OldMcDonald]

This thread is beginning to remind me of the way things have been done in Australia for a couple of hundred years to clear thick eucalyptus forests. "Frill" the trees by using an axe to cut all the way round through the cambium layer (at hip height to save bending) and the tree dies, just as 5030 says in the previous post. During the depression men would do this all day just in return for food to keep them alive.

I had a lot of success in the 1980s with a less labour intensive method and that was to use a single handed hatchet to make similar cuts at intervals around the tree instead of all round, and, using a sheep drenching kit of a back pack and attached syringe, use the other hand to squirt a product called Tordon into the cut. It was made by Dow if I remember right. Once dead the trees can be pulled and burned - or used for firewood, but with 1200 acres of growing trees and parts of the other 1800 with trees still standing dead after a few decades, I was not short of firewood. A team of men can kill a lot of trees in a day, and the work is not that difficult even if in high temperatures because of the shade offered by the trees.

 

[Old Guy in Tenn]

I have found it easiest to just decide that you want the stump to stay. Cut it off flat and put a bird bath on it. Drill a hole in the top and insert a flagpole. Set a 1/2 barrel on it and fill with plants on Mothers' day. Plant some day lilies around it, and top it off with some yard art. The important thing is to truly want it to stay. It will crumble to dust in a year. 2 at the most.

Works for me.

 

[sixdogs]

I have found it easiest to just decide that you want the stump to stay. Cut it off flat and put a bird bath on it. Drill a hole in the top and insert a flagpole. Set a 1/2 barrel on it and fill with plants on Mothers' day. Plant some day lilies around it, and top it off with some yard art. The important thing is to truly want it to stay. It will crumble to dust in a year. 2 at the most.

Works for me.

Maybe it's the dry weather, clay and high ph soil but stumps around here stay forever. Five or eight years later they look way better than they should. I could leave a couple of them but don't want to draw termites or whatever. The two that bother me are in the middle of lawn area so it would be nice if they vanished.

They are already nearly flush with the ground so I'm going to try the drill and diesel oil method with a charcoal fire on top this summer and see what happens. Can't hurt. I'll drill the top as full as I can get it with 1" holes and that ought to help something.

 

[Paddy]

Six dogs,

Only 8 " ? Dig one side away and just cut the thing off 1" below grade. I keep "junk" chains just for this. Quick and easy. For slightly bigger trees, don't cut down the tree pull them out. You need the log for leverage. I dig down a bit to cut all the major roots. Get a cable up 15 ft and pull with your tractor. As it starts to lean, cut and more roots that come in to view. Rolling a log near the base as the tree get closer to the ground will add a fulcrum. They pop right out with little disturbance.