De-activating Tree Stumps

I have numerous tree stumps around my property, most intertwined with my fence so they are impossible to remove without destroying it. They continue to send out new shoots that I have to cut back regularly. Similarly, there are a lot of aggressive vines from neighbors properties that I am constantly cutting back. It is getting to be a pain, and once my shrub hedge grows in it will be more difficult to maintain these areas.

Is there anything I can do to stop the new growth without affecting the other plants and life around the stumps? My neighbor mentioned I could put salt on the stumps, but I worry about run-off affecting surrounding plants. What are my best options?

This is a tough one. It's hard to know without the variety, height of the stump, how old etc.

For ex.
I've been plucking the shoots off of a young what I think is a white oak intertwined with one of my roses for 3 yrs now. Yet a young pine tree that I cut at the same height died and rotted at the stump.

The salt trick rarely works and might take pounds and kill everything around it and it still live.
Toxic ways and means are out of the question for me especially if I'm the one in control. So I can't suggest.

If they are intertwined it would be hard to wrap them with a material to suffocate.

I only have 1 suggestion. If you are so inclined or someone you know. Take a wood chisel and hammer and remove as much of the bark as you can down to the ground as close as you can. There is always a chance where you didn't get deep enough or around where it still exists, it could continue to try to grow

There may be some non-toxic removers out there, I haven't researched it. And you want localized too so

A picture may help others give some suggestions too.

I feel your pain. good luck

Have you considered something like using a brush or vinegar style herbicide? A few of my buddies have used it in the past with good results, though you need to be careful with application to make sure it's not too harsh or too concentrated. Or, if you've got the time and energy, smothering the stumps with a thick layer of cardboard and mulch can do the trick. Hope one of these helps! Good luck!

I have 1 more suggestion for various size/height stumps.

When using the drill avoid the wire.

Use a drill with a paddle bit or auger bit. drill holes in the very top, straight down as far as you can(don't get stuck). And at a downward angle 15 - 80 degrees randomly but evenly around the body of the stump.
Get as deep as you can to the center of the stump, ex. if the stump is 4' high and 4" round and you drill at the 2' height, drill 2" in.
The angle of the holes will allow it to hold salt, with every rain they will also accumulate water. Both the salt and water will work to kill and rot the stump.

Another plan, just go around the base with the holes same way, apply salt. when it kills it, it will begin to rot and if you are able to break it off then you can focus on removing from the fence wire.

If you have extra wire you could cut them out, salt the stump and repair the fence.
Doing the salt and the holes in this manner will hopefully limit the salt from affecting the surrounding vegetation.

Your neighbors anything is another problem entirely. Rule of thumb is usually; befriend, ask politely, ask not so politely, demand, anything over the property line from the ground to the clouds is yours, cut it.

Rather than salt, drill holes and fill with saltpeter/stump remover. Will kill and speed the decomposition of the stump.

It will not live without light, air, water, and soil. Light is probably easiest to deny it. A coffee or paint can nailed to and over a stump cut close to the ground works. For root suckers use sheet mulch or occultation. A brush cutter (beefy weedwacker with metal blade) can be swept through to scalp any root suckers. Getting something else growing to shade it out is the longterm solution for most perennial weeds.

My suggestion would be to drill the stump as advised above, then fill the hole with Epsom salts, apply water to the top of the tree stump so the Epsom salts can penetrate the stump, then, tightly cover the top of the tree with a tarp.

The Epsom salts are basically magnesium and sulfate which are often recommended for garden use.

A paste of salt and water put on the cut areas has worked for me. Yes, drilling holes would even be better.

Thank you everyone! You all are the best! Drilling a hole and filling with some kind of salt and water seems to be the consensus. I can definitely manage to drill and cover the smaller stumps, but I am a little overwhelmed by the larger stumps. Would you handle a stump like the one pictured the same way?

Goats and/or cattle and/or rabbits and/or hogs.

Do you have a power washer? With a zero degree nozzle?

Remove all the surface dirt/leaves etc that you can until you expose the tops of the roots, then power wash beside the roots. Essentially you're cutting the soil away from the roots and follow the roots out until they're as far from the fence as possible. Then cut them off at both ends. As you remove surface roots, you may find deeper roots you can then follow and remove.

Be warned - this is a messy game, and eye protection is a MUST. But I've used it on several occasions and it's worked surprisingly well.

Interesting! I don't have any animals, but I might be able to borrow a power washer from a neighbor. And, if nothing else, I'll try the drilling method. Thanks!

Disposable arbor blade on a reciprocating saw is my go-to. You can go right under the ground with no worries like you'd have with a chainsaw. I usually dig a bit to identify the roots and just cut them to free the "crown".

Matt Todd wrote:Disposable arbor blade on a reciprocating saw is my go-to. You can go right under the ground with no worries like you'd have with a chainsaw. I usually dig a bit to identify the roots and just cut them to free the "crown".

Me too. Recip saw all the way. Keep your old blades for scut work. I use them all the time.

Removing the main stump may not kill some early colonizing tees like poplars, though. The entire root system is viable, even when the stump is yoinked out. This is causing me untold grief in a couple of places. Hand-terraced gardens, carefully built soil, shot through with poplar shoots, and nothing else grows worth a damn. We are not amused.  

I feel your pain with the poplars. Here it's Tasmanian blackwood. The roots of a mature tree can extend to a 30 m radius and pop up dozens of shoots along the way. The good news for me at least is that they are nitrogen fixers and play nicely with other species, so I let them grow among the nut and shelterbelt trees. If they're in a problematic spot they get cut down (or mowed when small). Otherwise I let them grow because it coppices, yields a beautiful dense hardwood and also great fuel for the RMH.

Howdy,

As said before, reciprocating saw and I also use water to expose and cut as many roots below ground, even the tap root if I can.  

You can girdle the tree by cutting through the bark and cambium layer, all around the base of the tree, complete circle. This should kill the main stem/tree but may not stop root suckers.

One thing I've done in a case like this is take a 55 gal barrel with no lid or half barrel and put upside down over the stump, should be completely dead in a couple months.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

Removing the main stump may not kill some early colonizing tees like poplars, though. The entire root system is viable, even when the stump is yoinked out. This is causing me untold grief in a couple of places. Hand-terraced gardens, carefully built soil, shot through with poplar shoots, and nothing else grows worth a damn. We are not amused.  

Poplars are such bad weeds! I did realize they came up through a root system, which explains a lot. We fight them constantly here, too.