UK gardening - how can i kill a tree stump?

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how can i kill a tree stump?

kaz44

2005-09-25, 11:21 am

hi i have 2 sycamore tree stumps 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide,i want to kill
them because 1 is starting to sprout again,someone mentioned drilling
holes in the stump and putting some pellets in the holes,but i can't
seem to find any anyware,all i get in a search is the DEEP ROOT TREE
KILLER,does anyone knowwhere i can get it please?i have tried my local
garden centre,but they have'nt got any,i don't really want to go to the
expense of grinding them out.thank you kaz44

--
kaz44

Peter James

2005-09-25, 1:21 pm

kaz44 <kaz44.1vx47y@gardenbanter.co.uk> wrote:

> hi i have 2 sycamore tree stumps 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide,i want to kill
> them because 1 is starting to sprout again,someone mentioned drilling
> holes in the stump and putting some pellets in the holes,but i can't
> seem to find any anyware,all i get in a search is the DEEP ROOT TREE
> KILLER,does anyone knowwhere i can get it please?i have tried my local
> garden centre,but they have'nt got any,i don't really want to go to the
> expense of grinding them out.thank you kaz44
I am not too sure about the truth or otherwise of this suggestion, but!
A farmer once told me that the best and easiest way to get rid of tree
stumps was the following technique.
In the top of the stump, drill as many holes as you can using a brace
and a large bit and drill as deeply as you can. Pack the holes with
saltpetre and plug the top of the holes with putty and leave it all
winter. In the spring build a bon-fire on top of the stump and set
fire to it. He said that the bonfire would burn the stump away down to
the roots.
This is only hearsay, but it might well work. It won't cost you a lot
to try it. If it doesn't work you'll have to dig the stump out by hand,
or hire a stump chipper.

Draven

2005-09-25, 1:21 pm

"Peter James" <pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1h3gd5t.38lvi7z4q7mmN%pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk...
> kaz44 <kaz44.1vx47y@gardenbanter.co.uk> wrote:
>
> I am not too sure about the truth or otherwise of this suggestion, but!
> A farmer once told me that the best and easiest way to get rid of tree
> stumps was the following technique.
> In the top of the stump, drill as many holes as you can using a brace
> and a large bit and drill as deeply as you can. Pack the holes with
> saltpetre and plug the top of the holes with putty and leave it all
> winter. In the spring build a bon-fire on top of the stump and set
> fire to it. He said that the bonfire would burn the stump away down to
> the roots.
> This is only hearsay, but it might well work. It won't cost you a lot
> to try it. If it doesn't work you'll have to dig the stump out by hand,
> or hire a stump chipper.

What if the stump is in your front garden?
Building a bonfire would be a strange thing to do in such a case.

Peter James

2005-09-25, 2:21 pm

Draven <oxygenuk@gmail.com> wrote:

> "Peter James" <pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:1h3gd5t.38lvi7z4q7mmN%pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk...
>
> What if the stump is in your front garden?
> Building a bonfire would be a strange thing to do in such a case.

I don't think that the idea is to build a large bonfire. Just one that
will generate sufficient heat to ignite the stump. I think one would
need to use a degree of common sense over this. As you suggest, too big
and the house goes with it. Not what the OP was hoping to achieve I
imagine. The other problem might be in deciding how far under the house
the roots of the stump go. That might be a problem, in which case you
would have to find some other way of getting rid of the problem.
--
Please remove AT to reply

Malcolm Stewart

2005-09-25, 5:21 pm

"Peter James" <pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1h3gd5t.38lvi7z4q7mmN%pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk...
> kaz44 <kaz44.1vx47y@gardenbanter.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Pack the holes with
> saltpetre and plug the top of the holes with putty and leave it all
> winter.

As private individuals, how can we get hold of the saltpetre (potassium
nitrate?) ?

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm

Draven

2005-09-25, 6:21 pm

"Malcolm Stewart" <malcolm_stewart@megalith.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in
message news:dh6tb9$52f$1@newsg2.svr.pol.co.uk...
> "Peter James" <pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:1h3gd5t.38lvi7z4q7mmN%pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk...
>
> As private individuals, how can we get hold of the saltpetre (potassium
> nitrate?) ?
>
> --
> M Stewart
> Milton Keynes, UK
> http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm
>
>

Very difficult as it's one of the parts for making gun powder.
Would a sodium chlorate / sugar mix replace it?

Mike Lyle

2005-09-25, 7:21 pm

Malcolm Stewart wrote:
> "Peter James" <pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:1h3gd5t.38lvi7z4q7mmN%pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk...
all[color=darkred]
>
> As private individuals, how can we get hold of the saltpetre
> (potassium nitrate?) ?

You just pop in to the nearest chemist's shop, and ask. A few quid
will cover it. Save the rest for next time you kill a pig and need to
make bacon and ham. Or, if you don't want pot nitrate for that
purpose, and
are less dramatically inclined, you go to the garden centre or B&Q
and buy a tub of sodium chlorate.

People make a terrible to-do about tree-stumps. Again and again, I
say this gardening lark is a simple business: I have personal
reservations
about leaving dead material in the ground, but most times a stump
won't do your garden any harm at all. Just leave it there, and it'll
rot away in a few years. Break off any shoots which come up from the
stump, and relax. Nature has been growing plants on this planet for
an awfully long time, and on the whole did it better before we
started interfering.

--
Mike.

JP in Lon

2005-09-25, 10:21 pm

"Draven" <oxygenuk@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:UqEZe.7131$fl6.26@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>
> "Malcolm Stewart" <malcolm_stewart@megalith.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in
> message news:dh6tb9$52f$1@newsg2.svr.pol.co.uk...
[color=darkred]
> Very difficult as it's one of the parts for making gun powder.
> Would a sodium chlorate / sugar mix replace it?

Ask a chemist or a charcuterie.
Since it's also part of the way to making Salami and Salt Beef.

--
J.P. in London.

JP in Lon

2005-09-25, 10:21 pm

"JP in Lon" <noone@tisali.co.uk> wrote in message
news:43373fd2_1@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com...
> "Draven" <oxygenuk@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:UqEZe.7131$fl6.26@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
(potassium[color=darkred]
>
>
> Ask a chemist or a charcuterie.
> Since it's also part of the way to making Salami and Salt Beef.

....and I forgot, Bacon.

--
J.P. in London.

Peter James

2005-09-26, 3:21 am

Malcolm Stewart <malcolm_stewart@megalith.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

> "Peter James" <pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:1h3gd5t.38lvi7z4q7mmN%pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk...
>
> As private individuals, how can we get hold of the saltpetre (potassium
> nitrate?) ?
I don't know. I do know that my farmer friend was able to get it. Try
your local Agricultural Supplier and Fertiliser Merchant. Or maybe a
wholesale chemist might be able to help. I know that saltpetre is used
in the manufacture of explosives so it might be a problem. Have you
googled for it?

--
Please remove AT to reply

Peter James

2005-09-26, 4:21 am

Malcolm Stewart <malcolm_stewart@megalith.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

> "Peter James" <pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:1h3gd5t.38lvi7z4q7mmN%pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk...
>
> As private individuals, how can we get hold of the saltpetre (potassium
> nitrate?) ?
A search of google brought up:
http://www.thechemicalshop.com/inde...PRODUCT&product
id=31
Remember google is your friend!

--
Please remove AT to reply

Jaques d'Alltrades

2005-09-26, 5:21 am

The message <UqEZe.7131$fl6.26@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk>
from "Draven" <oxygenuk@gmail.com> contains these words:

> Very difficult as it's one of the parts for making gun powder.
> Would a sodium chlorate / sugar mix replace it?

Only as gunpowder.

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Andrew Hickley

2005-09-26, 5:21 am

In article <kaz44.1vx47y@gardenbanter.co.uk>,
kaz44 <kaz44.1vx47y@gardenbanter.co.uk> wrote:

> hi i have 2 sycamore tree stumps 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide,i want to kill
> them because 1 is starting to sprout again,someone mentioned drilling
> holes in the stump and putting some pellets in the holes,but i can't
> seem to find any anyware,all i get in a search is the DEEP ROOT TREE
> KILLER,does anyone knowwhere i can get it please?i have tried my local
> garden centre,but they have'nt got any,i don't really want to go to the
> expense of grinding them out.thank you kaz44

Cut channels or grooves into the top of the stump (I used a chainsaw on
large hawthorn bushes - a bow-saw would be *much* harder work) and brush
Amcide onto the stump. I used to get 100 per cent results. Amcide is
ammonium sulphamate and, ironically, is sold by the Organic Gardening
Catalogue!

Martin Brown

2005-09-26, 7:21 am

Peter James wrote:

> kaz44 <kaz44.1vx47y@gardenbanter.co.uk> wrote:
>
>

You want ammonium sulphamate sold under the tradename rootout eg
http://www.daxproducts.co.uk/rootout.html[color=darkred]
>
> I am not too sure about the truth or otherwise of this suggestion, but!
> A farmer once told me that the best and easiest way to get rid of tree
> stumps was the following technique.
> In the top of the stump, drill as many holes as you can using a brace
> and a large bit and drill as deeply as you can. Pack the holes with
> saltpetre and plug the top of the holes with putty and leave it all
> winter. In the spring build a bon-fire on top of the stump and set
> fire to it. He said that the bonfire would burn the stump away down to
> the roots.

It might work if you live in the mediterranean where the ground is bone
dry in winter, but it doesn't stand a cat in hells chance of working in
the UK. I loaded my pear tree stump with 2kg of potassium nitrate
(roughly this way) and was only rewarded with a huge crop of fungi. No
way would it burn as the wood at ground level was still saturated with
water even in mid summer.

> This is only hearsay, but it might well work. It won't cost you a lot
> to try it. If it doesn't work you'll have to dig the stump out by hand,
> or hire a stump chipper.

Strangely copper nails or copper sulphate might help accelerate the tree
roots demise by inhibiting the enzymes that protect it against fungal
attack. I have never tried this but it is supposed to help.

Ultimately you may find spade, crowbar and scaffold pole the most
satisfying way to remove them after they are dead.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Martin Brown

2005-09-26, 7:21 am

Malcolm Stewart wrote:

> "Peter James" <pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:1h3gd5t.38lvi7z4q7mmN%pfjamesAT@clara.co.uk...
>
>
>
> As private individuals, how can we get hold of the saltpetre (potassium
> nitrate?) ?

On the shelf of any decent garden centre.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Jaromba

2005-09-26, 3:21 pm

"kaz44" <kaz44.1vx47y@gardenbanter.co.uk> wrote in message
news:kaz44.1vx47y@gardenbanter.co.uk...
>
> hi i have 2 sycamore tree stumps 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide,i want to kill
> them because 1 is starting to sprout again,someone mentioned drilling
> holes in the stump and putting some pellets in the holes,but i can't
> seem to find any anyware,all i get in a search is the DEEP ROOT TREE
> KILLER,does anyone knowwhere i can get it please?i have tried my local
> garden centre,but they have'nt got any,i don't really want to go to
> the
> expense of grinding them out.thank you kaz44

Use RootOut from B&Q - or almost anywhere.
Follow the instructions on it.
Works well.

John McMillan

2005-09-26, 3:21 pm

I've killed many sycamore and ash stumps over the years.
My technique is to strip as much bark as possible from the stump
down to ground level (and below) and to drill a few deep holes
in the centre of the stump using a brace with a broad auger bit.
Every time the roots send up a sucker or some more leaves, hack
them off. The lack of bark causes the live wood to die. The holes
in the centre trap rainwater which causes the centre to rot slowly.
Even the strongest sycamores give up after a year or two of this treatment.
The best tool for removing bark that I've found is a hand adze
with a blade 50mm wide from Tiranti.

Jim Scott

2005-09-26, 3:21 pm

On Sun, 25 Sep 2005 09:34:26 +0000, kaz44 wrote:

> hi i have 2 sycamore tree stumps 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide,i want to kill
> them because 1 is starting to sprout again,someone mentioned drilling
> holes in the stump and putting some pellets in the holes,but i can't
> seem to find any anyware,all i get in a search is the DEEP ROOT TREE
> KILLER,does anyone knowwhere i can get it please?i have tried my local
> garden centre,but they have'nt got any,i don't really want to go to the
> expense of grinding them out.thank you kaz44

Drilled holes with Brushwood Killer worked for mine; assuming it hasn't
been banned yet.
--
Jim
Tyneside UK

penance

2005-09-27, 11:21 am

Hi all,

In a previous career as a tree surgeon we were often asked to kill or
remove stumps.
The most effective way is to cut a groove in the cambian layer (the
area of growth inside the bark) this layer holds the tree's vascular
system. Put a systemic herbiced in the groove. Then place a bin liner
over the stump tp stop rain washing it off or animals getting to it.
As the groove has been cut in the cambian layer the vascular system
will help to take the herbiced into the root system.
This method has had 100% success everytime i have used it.

Unfortunately the copper nail method is false.

If you dont have a chainsaw to make the groove, drilled holes will do,
but be sure they intersect the cambian layer.

HTH

--
penance

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