Stump Removal

In September of this year we had a hellacious wind storm. I think I referenced it in an earlier post, but we had 70+ MPH winds. As a result we lost several trees. After cutting them up I was left with the stumps dotting my yard. I researched stump removal but wasn't entirely on board with using chemicals to slowly degrade the stump over a long period of time. I wasn't worried about contaminating the ground necessarily, but because most of the water from the property around these stumps drains into my pond. I understand the chemicals are largely made up of nitrogen, which when entering a pond can cause significant algae blooms. I also wasn't going to pay someone to grind out the stumps, and leaving them to rot on their own would mean years of adventurous grass cutting. That left burning.

I had burned a large cherry stump last year and was pleased with the results; however it took 6 burns, a large amount of my firewood, and 3 weeks of off days to complete. I needed a more efficient method of burning the stumps out. I did some online research. I chose to sacrifice one of my 55 gallon steel burn barrels. I cut the bottom out (the top was already removed), and was left with what basically amounted to a chimney. This is placed over the stump and a fire is built inside. I was amazed at how differently the barrel burned with the bottom removed. It acted as a furnace, and 90% of them stump was gone in 2 burns in 1 day. I have a surface root to get out next and then back fill, no more stump. I used no accelerant like diesel or kerosene, just wood. I was very impressed. I also used about 1/10th the wood as I did last year.