What would be a good & efficient way to remove these Bush Stumps? They are partially grown under the small wall next to them, so they are pretty resilient. I couldn’t even pull them out with my car.
What would be a good & efficient way to remove these Bush Stumps? They are partially grown under the small wall next to them, so they are pretty resilient. I couldn’t even pull them out with my car.
Pickaxe or a heavy duty shovel. You’re gonna have to chop them out
SpaceGoatAlpha
I would purchase a 4×4′ square of Hardie cement backer board to clip against the fence to protect it and then remove all of the loose dirt around the stump down about 2 in. I would then put a small pile of charcoal around the stump and light it up before sitting back with a cold drink and a bucket of water.
Super low effort required, minimal cleanup, just push the dirt back in and the heat along the root crown should go a long way to actually killing the bush.
There’s also negligible chance of you injuring your back or having some severely traumatic injury or damage from a tow rope/chain breaking.
You should certainly be able to reuse the cement backer board even after several stumps. You could easily protect the cement backer board from soot blemishes by putting on a couple layers of aluminum foil over the bottom foot or so. Bush stumps that are directly below or intertwined with the fence are going to be more difficult and will probably require some cutting with a hand saw.
Hope that helps, good luck and be safe. 👍
Getoffmylawn8787
We have a ton of these around the property to deal with.
For some shallow-rooting shrubs/trees, it was relatively simple (albeit not easy) to work around them with a hoe/pick axe where the roots become slightly smaller — about 2ft around the stump — and then remove it with a good shovel. Takes a while though, and it’s messy.
A few others that had much deeper roots/roots were in areas where erosion would have been a big issue, we have been burning them. It takes a lot longer but it’s not much work to do, and its a good way to avoid disturbing the soil. This was particularly useful for trees/shrubs that are near our spring, where we didn’t want to destroy the creek bed they’re looming over in the process of getting them out.
Hoppie1064
A Sawzall, and a long pruning blade. Some people call it a demolition saw.
Just run the blade into the ground, saw all the way around the stumps as deep as the blade will reach. That cuts any roots running outwards from the stumps.
You may have to tilt the saw to cut the tap root if it has one.
Any root left in the ground will eventually rot, so long as you keep any sprouts from growing.
I’ve done this before.
Silent_Medicine1798
Get yourself a farm jack (hi lift Jack).
Dig up around the bush as much as is reasonable (you will know – it gets unreasonable really quick). Use a hatchet or axe to cut the roots accessible.
Lay a strong piece of wood over the hole to get the Jack as close to directly over the stump as you can, wrap the chain around the stump and start jacking it up.
It won’t take long one you have the Jack going on it.
JoWyo21
When we have things like that we dig around it cut it with a sawzall blade and then spray tordon on it so it doesn’t come back, before re burying it.
grow_something
Instead of pulling straight, use a wheel/tire to apply the force vertically.
Grab a shovel and expose all the roots around. Cut what you can with the shovel. What you can’t, get a small hand saw from the garden store. Pry one side up, block it. Expose more roots, cut. There has never been a shrub that I couldn’t pull from the ground. I have taken by my estimate well over 6000 root balls. No amount of lateral force will move it if the tapered roots go out 5 feet. You could also rent a stump grinder or hire it out. With it being close to a wall I would hire it out if it’s your first time using one.
fattymattybrewing
I’m happy to share that your solution for these is not complicated.
1. Grab yourself a bag of charcoal 2. Find a remove the bottom from a metal bucket or large metal coffee tin (I often use cinder blocks 3. place the bucket with bottom removed over the bush stump, surrounding it with the metal bucket or cinder blocks 4. start the charcoal till it’s red hot and pour the hot coals in the metal bucket 5. top off the bucket with more unburned coals 6. this will burn for 8-24 hours and burn out the stump
I do this with black walnut trees and other weedy woody stumps around my yard and it’s fun and so effective! Plus, if you like making fire or bbqing, it’s very satisfying.
9 Comments
Pickaxe or a heavy duty shovel. You’re gonna have to chop them out
I would purchase a 4×4′ square of Hardie cement backer board to clip against the fence to protect it and then remove all of the loose dirt around the stump down about 2 in. I would then put a small pile of charcoal around the stump and light it up before sitting back with a cold drink and a bucket of water.
Super low effort required, minimal cleanup, just push the dirt back in and the heat along the root crown should go a long way to actually killing the bush.
There’s also negligible chance of you injuring your back or having some severely traumatic injury or damage from a tow rope/chain breaking.
You should certainly be able to reuse the cement backer board even after several stumps. You could easily protect the cement backer board from soot blemishes by putting on a couple layers of aluminum foil over the bottom foot or so. Bush stumps that are directly below or intertwined with the fence are going to be more difficult and will probably require some cutting with a hand saw.
Hope that helps, good luck and be safe. 👍
We have a ton of these around the property to deal with.
For some shallow-rooting shrubs/trees, it was relatively simple (albeit not easy) to work around them with a hoe/pick axe where the roots become slightly smaller — about 2ft around the stump — and then remove it with a good shovel. Takes a while though, and it’s messy.
A few others that had much deeper roots/roots were in areas where erosion would have been a big issue, we have been burning them. It takes a lot longer but it’s not much work to do, and its a good way to avoid disturbing the soil. This was particularly useful for trees/shrubs that are near our spring, where we didn’t want to destroy the creek bed they’re looming over in the process of getting them out.
A Sawzall, and a long pruning blade. Some people call it a demolition saw.
Just run the blade into the ground, saw all the way around the stumps as deep as the blade will reach. That cuts any roots running outwards from the stumps.
You may have to tilt the saw to cut the tap root if it has one.
Any root left in the ground will eventually rot, so long as you keep any sprouts from growing.
I’ve done this before.
Get yourself a farm jack (hi lift Jack).
Dig up around the bush as much as is reasonable (you will know – it gets unreasonable really quick). Use a hatchet or axe to cut the roots accessible.
Lay a strong piece of wood over the hole to get the Jack as close to directly over the stump as you can, wrap the chain around the stump and start jacking it up.
It won’t take long one you have the Jack going on it.
When we have things like that we dig around it cut it with a sawzall blade and then spray tordon on it so it doesn’t come back, before re burying it.
Instead of pulling straight, use a wheel/tire to apply the force vertically.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gq_Gb46eXr4/maxresdefault.jpg
Grab a shovel and expose all the roots around. Cut what you can with the shovel. What you can’t, get a small hand saw from the garden store. Pry one side up, block it. Expose more roots, cut.
There has never been a shrub that I couldn’t pull from the ground. I have taken by my estimate well over 6000 root balls. No amount of lateral force will move it if the tapered roots go out 5 feet.
You could also rent a stump grinder or hire it out. With it being close to a wall I would hire it out if it’s your first time using one.
I’m happy to share that your solution for these is not complicated.
1. Grab yourself a bag of charcoal
2. Find a remove the bottom from a metal bucket or large metal coffee tin (I often use cinder blocks
3. place the bucket with bottom removed over the bush stump, surrounding it with the metal bucket or cinder blocks
4. start the charcoal till it’s red hot and pour the hot coals in the metal bucket
5. top off the bucket with more unburned coals
6. this will burn for 8-24 hours and burn out the stump
I do this with black walnut trees and other weedy woody stumps around my yard and it’s fun and so effective! Plus, if you like making fire or bbqing, it’s very satisfying.