Why uproot old stumps? There can be many reasons. It happens that people want to plant on their plot new garden, and the old stumps do not allow this to be done or simply redevelopment. Sometimes, there is a need to remove a tree that is in disrepair. It happens that a stump interferes with the creation landscape composition or interferes with setting up a garden or flower bed. In all these and many other cases, to achieve your goals it is necessary to get rid of stumps.

It is worth mentioning that if the stump is on long distance from other trees and does not bother anyone, it can be left to decay naturally or decorated by turning it into an object landscape design. If the stump is located close to healthy trees, it is better to get rid of it, since bacteria that destroy the stump, fungal spores, and woodworms can move to other trees.

Before you start the procedure getting rid of an old stump, some things should be taken into account important points. Each type of tree has its own root structure. Spruce, for example, has a shallow fan root system (similar to how its branches grow). That is why in the event of hurricanes or other natural disasters, the spruce tree falls first. For the same reason, it is not recommended to plant “ christmas tree» close to the house and other buildings. But uprooting spruce roots is much easier than any other.

Pine, in turn, on the contrary, has a powerful tap root that goes deep. Like the pine trunk (tall, straight, going up), the root has a similar structure. To get rid of such a stump, you will have to make an effort.

Concerning deciduous trees, they can have not only powerful surface roots, but also those that go deep (a spherical tree crown and the same root system).

There are several ways to remove stumps:

Mechanical (using special equipment, using a chainsaw or stump grinder);

Use of chemicals (nitrate, urea, table salt, etc.);

Manually (using shovels, axes, hacksaws or by eroding the soil).

Let's take a closer look at least expensive ways to uproot unnecessary stumps, namely manually and using chemicals..

How to get rid of a stump without uprooting

First you need to take a thin, strong metal rod about 40-50 cm long and tie it to a stick (for convenience). After this, you need to generously spill the soil around the stump and use a pin to determine the location of the thickest roots around the stump. Such a simple study will help determine which method is best to get rid of an unnecessary stump.

There are several ways to get rid of an unnecessary stump without uprooting.

Some gardeners resort to method of destroying stumps using the roots of young trees(seedlings are planted directly into the stump and the growing young growth slowly destroys the stump). Everything is simple here. To begin with, you need to cut down the old stump at the root and hollow out a hole in the center of the trunk. This is easy to do with a drill. The resulting depression must be filled with a mixture of fertilizers (ash, humus, peat, sand, manure, etc. are suitable).

It is necessary to plant a seedling in the prepared “soil”, and then care for it in the usual way. Thus, the young plant will feed useful substances from the remains of an old stump, thus destroying its wood and rhizomes.

You can also get rid of unnecessary tree stump personal plot without uprooting, if you plant mushroom spores in it. To do this, you need to make a couple of cracks in the cut of the trunk and put the mycelium of fruiting myceliums into them (this can be oyster mushrooms or honey mushrooms). After this, the stump should be watered and covered with film.

Thus, already at next year you will have a fertile mycelium that can produce crops for up to 5 years. After it stops bearing fruit, the wood will dry out and the unnecessary stump will be easy to remove. This method of getting rid of a stump will prevent the appearance of growth from old roots, which is also a definite plus.

Kerosene is an effective remedy in the fight against interfering stumps.. A hole is made in the center of the stump (diameter and depth depend on the size and height of the stump). You need to pour regular kerosene into the resulting hole and add it little by little throughout the day, as it gets absorbed. The hole must be tightly sealed with a wooden stopper (just wooden block). After this, all that remains is to leave the stump in this state for a couple of weeks.

After the specified time has passed, you need to open the plug, taking precautions, and set fire to the hole and the kerosene that has soaked inside. Thus, the stump will be safely destroyed to the ground without much difficulty and grueling uprooting.

There is another one effective way uproot a stump on a personal plot that does not require special effort(but here you will have to be patient).

The stump can be destroyed from the inside using simple chemical reagents, for example, potassium or sodium nitrate. This method is easy to use and completely recycles all root system to the last smallest root. The size of an unnecessary stump only affects the time it takes for its wood to decompose.

The downside is that this method is quite lengthy. It may take several years from the start of the process to its complete completion. But during the procedure, young growths that are always interfering will not appear and this method Stump removal is not expensive. It is best to resort to this method in the fall, during the period when it is customary to restore order at your dachas.

First you need to drill several holes in the stump (10-15 cm deep and 20-25 cm in diameter). Next, you should pour potassium nitrate into the resulting holes (it must be poured so that the level does not reach the top a couple of centimeters). After this, for more quick effect, you need to seal the holes very carefully. Garden pitch or paraffin is suitable for this. After this, cover the stump plastic film and tie it with a rope (so that the saltpeter does not wash away with water). And then it’s a matter of time. Over the winter, saltpeter and the weather will do their destructive work - the stump will turn into dust.

In the spring, you can safely remove it from the site without uprooting it. If the stump is very large and old, then one winter may not be enough to destroy it. Sometimes there is advice to set fire to such a stump in the spring to make it easier to uproot. To do this, the stump is opened and uncorked, after which kerosene (or other flammable substance) is poured into the holes and set on fire.

When burned, saltpeter releases oxygen, causing the fire to spread deep into the soil, burning the entire root system. After this, all that remains is to dig up the place where the stump was removed and use it in the future at your own discretion. But this method, like any other where fire is used, can be dangerous, since wood soaked in saltpeter can burn even deep underground (where the roots reach), which, for example, in old apple trees can be very long and stretch under the vein house or other buildings.

You can get rid of an unnecessary stump using ammonium nitrate. This substance is popularly called “urea” and is successfully used to remove stumps in garden plots. This substance both decomposes wood and roots and is a good soil fertilizer. After the decomposition process is complete, the stump can simply be covered with soil and used to plant a flower bed or vegetable garden. This method is carried out similarly to that described above, only urea is poured into the hole and the stump is not set on fire after decomposition of the wood (this makes it possible to use this type of destruction even on peat soils, where ordinary saltpeter with burning is unacceptable, due to the high fire hazard of peat soil).

Without much effort, you can get rid of a tree stump in your dacha using regular salt. This is perhaps the easiest way to decompose wood. To carry out the procedure, you will need regular coarse table salt (approximately 300 g per small or medium stump). In this case, the “killing” of the wood will also occur without the formation of shoots.

Salt is poured into prepared holes (you can pour it into natural cracks or drill holes with a drill), pour plenty of water, wrap it up and leave it for the winter. After this, the remains of the stump are covered with earth and it decomposes in the ground itself. After carrying out such a procedure, the area where the stump was located becomes unsuitable for planting a vegetable garden or flower bed for several more years (due to “over-salinity” of the soil), but this is not a problem if you are not going to plant anything there right away.

When we're talking about about a well-kept garden, mechanical removal methods are generally inappropriate. This is simply impossible to achieve, so you have to choose between chemical and manually uprooting.

If the stump is small, then it will be faster to carry out the process manually than to wait several years for the wood to decompose. On the other hand, if there is no particular rush, you can choose the most optimal chemical method, with which you can destroy all the roots and avoid the appearance of annoying growths. Any of the methods will bring best result than if you leave everything to chance.

If the goal is not to get rid of the stump, but to improve garden territory, then the stump (if it is large enough) can be turned into a beautiful and even functional piece of garden landscape design, for example, a table, chair, original sculpture, etc. This already depends on the enthusiasm and flight of imagination of the owner.

With this problem: how to remove a stump from summer cottage , gardeners do not often encounter this problem, but if the need to uproot a stump arises, then there are several ways to solve this problem. Mechanical methods of uprooting stumps can require large physical and even material costs, it all depends on the size of the stump and its location on the summer cottage. There are ways to remove a stump from a site without uprooting, these include:

How to remove a stump on a site, without uprooting it, but using a chemical method.

The chemical method involves treating the stump with reagents, which quickly destroy it, such substances are:

• potassium or sodium nitrate;
• urea;
• herbicides;
• sodium chloride (table salt).

We remove stumps using potassium or sodium nitrate

Stump removal is a process that takes place at the end of summer. The stump needs to be prepared: drill several holes in the wood with drills of maximum diameter. With a drill diameter of 10 mm - about 20 holes, 20 mm - 7-8, and 30 mm - 3-4 holes, drilling depth - 250-300 mm. Then fill the holes with a reagent (about 2 kg of saltpeter will be needed), add water and cover with film and leave the stump for a year. During this time, the wood will soften and it will be enough just to pour some kind of fuel on the stump and set it on fire, so not only its outer part will burn, but all the roots will burn out. Finally, the place where the stump was located is dug up and covered with earth.

The advantages of this method are: ease of implementation, minimal physical effort, complete removal of the stump and its roots.

Disadvantages include: harm of nitrate for fruit and tuber crops growing near a stump, long time frames, acquisition, transportation and storage of chemicals, caution in using the method on peaty soils(due to possible peat fire).

How to remove a stump in a country house without uprooting using urea

This method will require the same preparation of the stump as with the method described above: perforating the wood with drills. You will need 2 kg of urea. The duration of the process is 1 year.

The advantages of the method are the same as when using saltpeter. A big advantage is the relative harmlessness of urea: in place of the removed stump, you can plant any garden or vegetable plants or plant a flower garden.

Disadvantages of the method: long duration of stump removal, reagent costs.

Using herbicides to remove stumps from the area

Herbicides used to remove weeds can also remove a stump without uprooting it, these include Roundup, Zero, Alaz, Glysol, etc. The drug treats a fresh cut or the soil around the stump. abundant watering distributes herbicides into the root system, which leads to its drying out.

Advantages of the method: minimum effort, duration - 6 months, wide choose and availability of drugs.

Flaws: This method “works” only with a “live” stump of a freshly cut tree.

Whatever method of getting rid of a stump you choose, you need to remember about precautions and protective equipment when working with chemicals in your summer cottage!

Sodium chloride destroys wood - this is a fact, the method using table salt is as effective as using saltpeter or urea, the duration of destruction of wood and roots is 1-1.5 years.

Advantages of the method: simplicity, minimal financial costs.

Flaws: long time period for stump removal.

How to remove a stump from a summer cottage using alternative methods without uprooting it

TO alternative methods Stump destruction includes biological method and "natural" method, each of them has its own advantages.

There are two biological methods for removing stumps from a site - this is the “infection” of the remains of a cut tree with fungal spores and the “colonization” of young seedlings. The disadvantage of these methods is the long-term destruction of the stump (about 3 years), but there are a lot of advantages, at least a harvest of mushrooms in the country and young fruit trees.

When choosing the “mushroom” method in the spring, you can harvest oyster mushrooms after 6 months. To do this, the mycelium sprouted on the substrate is placed in the notches or holes in the wood, and the stump is periodically moistened; after 2-3 years, the mushrooms will turn it into dust.

To destroy a stump with growth, you need to drill a hole in its middle of a size large enough to accommodate the roots of a young plant, fill the hole with fertilizer (ash, humus) and plant the seedling. In the future, care for it as if it were a young tree. The roots of the shoots will be taken away nutrients from the stump, gradually destroying its wood and root system.

From time to time, every owner of a summer house or personal plot, when renovating a garden or developing new areas of land for cultivation, is faced with the question of how to uproot a stump, preferably without excessive effort. Some gardeners trust the uprooting of trees on their site to specialists who have necessary equipment and special tools, and some, knowing how to uproot stumps by hand, prefer to get rid of the remains of trees themselves. In this article we will tell you several good ways, how to uproot a stump, and find out which removal method will be most optimal for a particular area.

Stump uprooting, preparatory work

Methods for uprooting stumps are divided into mechanical and chemical, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages, but they have one thing in common - the need for preliminary preparatory work that will speed up the process of stump removal.

To make uprooting easier, you need to slightly moisten the soil around the stump and dig bayonet shovel stump along its entire circumference, starting from its base to a depth of at least 30 cm, exposing all the roots of the tree to be removed. As the hole deepens, you need to gradually expand its diameter. It should be taken into account that the roots grow in width approximately to the width of the tree crown, so the digging trunk circle should repeat the projection of the crown, while the diameter of the excavations can be 1.5-2 m.

Important! The roots of cherries and plums grow at a great distance from the trunk and extend quite far beyond the diameter of the crown - this should be taken into account when removing their stumps.

You can expose the roots of a tree with water pressure from a hose, having previously constructed grooves to drain the water, while the soil between the roots will be washed away. Exposed powerful lateral roots need to be cut with a chainsaw or chopped, retreating approximately 40 cm from the stump trunk.

Removing stumps using mechanical methods

Most in a fast way Stump removal is mechanical, and it is possible to uproot it with a tractor, a stump crusher, or with your own hands using improvised means.

Using equipment for uprooting stumps, how to remove a stump with a tractor

Using stump removal equipment makes this labor-intensive and lengthy process easier and faster. Unnecessary stumps are quickly removed with a tractor or bulldozer equipped with a special root removal attachment. This method is indispensable when clearing a site of several stumps, uprooting an old garden or forest plantings of trees before planning the development of the territory and starting construction work.

The main condition for implementing this method of stump removal is access to their location and the presence free space for operating and turning this bulky equipment. The stump is tied with a cable and pulled out of the ground.

It should be noted that the removal of large and powerful stumps requires the operation of a high-power caterpillar tractor, which will destroy upper layer soil and landscape design beds and lawns located on it.

How to uproot a stump with a stump crusher

You can uproot stumps using a stump crusher, which has small dimensions similar to the size of a garden wheelbarrow. Such a device can be easily moved around the garden plot and can be easily carried by hand to any tree. Its use is possible for removing single stumps among growing trees in densely planted gardens and summer cottages with little space for maneuvering large equipment.

Such a stump remover mills and crushes the stump wood to a root depth of 25-30 cm. If it is possible to use a manual stump remover on your site, the stump should be cut down as close to ground level as possible, while the stumps large diameter It is advisable to cut it into several segments to facilitate the work of a mechanical hemp cutter.

The stump crusher will mill the stump wood to the size of sawdust, after which the hole can be filled with earth and the area can be used for its intended purpose.

Important! It is better to uproot stumps in winter period: the wood will be saturated with moisture, which in cold weather will destroy it from the inside, which will greatly facilitate felling and sawing.

Uprooting stumps with your own hands, how to remove the remains of a tree with your own hands

Since the cost of services for a tractor and a stump crusher is quite high, and not every dacha has the opportunity to use a tractor or other large-sized digging machine, the gardener often has to remove stumps on the site with his own hands.

Small stumps, the diameter of which is less than 20 cm, are removed using a metal lever or pole after preliminary preparatory work by exposing and cutting off the supporting roots of the tree.

A long crowbar is slipped under the bottom of the stump and works as a lever, tearing the remains of the tree out of the ground or tipping the stump on its side, followed by final extraction rhizomes. After such uprooting, the extracted stump is suitable as firewood for heating.

Removing stumps using chemicals

In some cases, you cannot do without chemical methods if the question is how to remove a stump without uprooting it from the site, but this cannot be done quickly.

One of the most popular ways to destroy a stump without uprooting it is to use potassium nitrate. Before removing a stump from your site using saltpeter, you should prepare - cut down the top of the stump as low as possible to the soil level and drill several holes in it 5-6 cm in diameter and about 30-35 cm deep.

Approximate quantity drilled holes calculated based on simple calculation: One hole is needed for every 10 cm of tree diameter. Then potassium nitrate is compacted into each drilled hole and filled to the brim with water, after which the entire stump should be covered with thick polyethylene, secured, and the remaining tree remains covered in this way until spring.

Potassium nitrate dissolved in water will be well absorbed into the wood, and in the spring, after removing the cover, there will be a dried stump on the site with nitrate in the tissues. And now the final stage of solving the problem of how to remove a stump without uprooting it is to pour a little gasoline into the holes and set it on fire. After the stump is completely burned, the soil around its place of growth is dug up and used for its intended purpose.

Before burning a stump, you must follow all the rules fire safety and under no circumstances should this method be used on peat bogs, as this is fraught with large fires that are difficult to extinguish.

Another way to remove a stump without uprooting it using chemicals is to use ammonium nitrate to destroy stumps.

Ammonium nitrate or urea is introduced into the stump wood in a similar way to the potassium nitrate application technology described earlier.

The stump treated with urea is covered with polyethylene or covered with earth. Ammonium nitrate will gradually decompose the wood, and after two years the stump will be destroyed without the need for burning or uprooting.

The most interesting way: how to remove a stump using mushrooms

As biological agent Mushrooms are sometimes used to destroy stumps and roots. This one is unusual and interesting way easy to use and will provide the gardener’s family with fresh homemade mushrooms.

To remove a stump from an area using mushrooms, you need to drill holes around the perimeter of the remaining part of the tree and fill them with oyster mushroom or honey mushroom mycelium. Over time, the fungi will begin to grow over the entire surface of the stump and will destroy the wood to support their livelihoods, thereby decomposing the stump and its roots.

Did you know? The pine stump is the most difficult to remove, since its thick taproot lies at a depth of up to 6 meters.

Advantages and disadvantages of each method, how to choose the best method for uprooting stumps

Each of the described methods for destroying an unnecessary stump in a country house or personal plot has its own advantages and disadvantages, which distinguish it from other methods. Let's consider all the positive and negative points the use of one or another method of stump removal, which a person planning to remove a stump from his territory should know.

Uprooting a stump with a tractor

Advantages:

• suitable for large quantity stumps in the open area of ​​the site;
• the method allows you to get rid of an outdated, non-fruit-bearing garden with one call of special equipment, which allows you to reduce the cost of removing each stump;
• New trees can be planted in holes cleared of stumps.

Flaws:

• a bulky tractor can destroy landscaped area and decorative elements;
• a powerful tractor suddenly pulls a stump out of the ground, which may damage the roots of other trees growing nearby;
• high cost of removing one stump;
• the uprooted stump will leave a large pit that will need to be covered with earth and leveled.

Uprooting a stump with a stump crusher

Advantages:

• a quick and accurate process, the use of which will not violate the integrity and appearance of the site and its landscape design;
• equipment can be easily delivered to the remains of the tree;
• The stump crusher allows you to set the necessary parameters for the depth and diameter of milling and crushing wood and control them during the work;
• As a result of uprooting the stump with a crusher, only chips will remain, which can simply be dug up along with the soil on the site.

Often, when arranging the territory of a dacha, it is necessary to cut down trees that have either dried up or for some reason look bad on the site: they block the light in the windows of the house, drown out neighboring trees, etc. But even after the tree is removed, the problem does not disappear completely. After all, what remains is a stump, which is the more difficult to uproot, the larger its diameter and the more developed the root system. However, there is a way out: any stump in the countryside can easily be turned into a masterpiece of decorative art.

Ways to decorate a stump

Like any creation of nature, a stump can have very different appearance, and this, in turn, opens up unlimited spaces for imagination. The most popular ways to disguise a stump as a decorative element include:

• Painting a stump.
• Decorating a stump with moss or flowers.

• Transforming it into a stand for a pot of flowers, a table leg, an armchair, a pedestal for vases and sculptures, a fairytale castle.
• Making a full-fledged table from a stump.
• Decorating the stump with figurines or ready-made decorations.

Let's look at how to decorate a stump in more detail.

Painting a stump in combination with wood carving

Before you start working on an already uprooted stump, you need to stock up on the following tools and materials:

• Saw.
• Sandpaper.
• Texture or other paint.
• Brush.

Now let's get ready to decorate:

• We clean the stump from many years of dirt deposits and remove the bark from it. Then we clean from loose wood and those areas that have already begun to rot and collapse.

• We give the stump any shape that is attractive to us using a saw and leave it to dry. fresh air. However, the future craft should not be exposed to direct sunlight, otherwise the wood will most likely crack (at least 5-6 days).
• Upon completion of drying, we again clean the workpiece from loose wood and fibers.
• We choose paint to treat the stump and varnish to protect it from negative atmospheric influences. If you need the surface of the stump to be shiny and smooth, do not immediately use texture paint(for example, "Aquatex" or "Penotex"). But, on the other hand, such paints contain not only a coloring pigment, but also a varnish with an antiseptic, which significantly slows down the processes of wood decay. Those who are attracted by the natural shade of wood cover the stump with garden plot with regular varnish, but pre-impregnated with linseed oil.
• When the blank, which in the future is destined to become decorative element on a personal plot, it will dry well, it should be thoroughly sanded. For these functions, sandpaper is often used, and the processing begins with sandpaper with a coarse grain, gradually moving to a finer one, which guarantees a smooth surface. The use of a grinding machine will significantly reduce labor and time costs, but for grinding hard to reach places it is of little use on a stump.
• Then we paint or impregnate the workpiece (the latter if it has the shade of natural wood).
• We transfer the workpiece to a warm and dry place for several days, avoiding, however, direct exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
• Let's start varnishing the stump. There should be at least two layers of varnish, and preferably even more, so that the surface looks glossy and shiny. When the varnish has dried, we install the workpiece in a permanent place.

Stump like a flower bed

Since wood is a natural material, stump decor will look especially great if such residue big tree turn into a flower bed. To do this, take a hammer, chisel, earth and flowers.

This is one of the simplest and effective ways stump camouflage:

• First you need to place soil into the hollow stump. If the core of the stump is still intact, you will need a hammer and a chisel, with which you can make a hole in the shape of a flower pot inside the future flower bed. A more radical method of making a wide depression in a stump is burning with kerosene. This option is permissible only if the thickness of the side wall of the stump exceeds 5-7 cm. Otherwise, it will simply not be possible to save the stump after removing the core: it will crumble in your hands. Pour kerosene into a hollowed out wide hole and wait about 12 hours until it is well absorbed. Then add more kerosene, close it very tightly and wait 1-2 weeks. After this, the lid is removed and the kerosene is set on fire, thus freeing the stump from the core.
• To prevent flowers from dying from waterlogging, ensure water drainage from the stump by making a small hole on the side in its lower part.
• Now it is advisable to select flowers for planting in the stump. Plants will look impressive against the background of brown bark bright colors. When planting them, it is recommended not to forget about sufficient quantity water and fertilizers. If you want to completely hide the stump from prying eyes, it is advisable to plant plants not in it, but around it.

A good addition to a stump-bed will be multi-colored pebbles laid out around it in intricate patterns.

Stump with moss decoration

Stylizing a stump “antique” with the help of moss will not require a lot of time and serious material costs.

However, it should be remembered that this is only possible if the stump is in the shade and in a sufficiently damp and humid place.

When planting moss:

• Water the plant with a cup of buttermilk, then it will take root perfectly on the stump.
• Constantly moisten the moss with water so that it grows more intensively.
• Since moss tends to slide, it is advisable to plant climbing plants next to it.

Decorative design of a stump in a fairytale style

Not everyone knows how to decorate a tree stump in such a way that it becomes a gathering place for all the kids in the area. To do this, you need to show a little ingenuity and decorate a stump (or better yet, several stumps) as a fairy-tale corner. Among the tools and materials you should take a hammer, chisel, sandpaper, crayons, antiseptic, wooden boards, tow, chestnuts, white corks from plastic bottles, glue, cones.

• First, we clear the stump of bark using a hammer and chisel. We insert the chisel between the bark and the wood itself and gently tap it with a hammer.
• After removing the bark, sand the stumps using medium-grit sandpaper. Take a damp cloth and remove any wood dust that has arisen. We treat the wood with an antiseptic.
• Then we paint the stump with brown paint. After drying, we glue tow and cones on top, which will be the improvised hair of our “goblin,” and to the side of the stump - chestnuts, imitating eyes. Under them we also horizontally glue a knot - the “mouth”, which we then paint with red paint. You should also glue the “whites of the eyes” - caps from plastic bottles - to the chestnuts, and a little lower between them, insert a “nose” knot into a recess previously made in the stump. Now the fairy-tale character is ready.

Another fairy-tale option is Baba Yaga's house. To do this, we take only a hammer, a chisel, wooden boards and nails. Then:

• We chalk out the places where the door and windows will be located.
• From pieces wooden board We make shutters and a door of a size corresponding to the size of the stump and paint them.
• After drying, we nail the door and windows to the stump with nails (the heads of the latter are bitten off).
• An additional magical atmosphere will be created by branches and driftwood, which are placed in picturesque disorder around the resulting house.

If desired, any stump can easily become a hero of your favorite fairy tale. The best things to make from it are various brownies, foresters, kikimoras, and mushrooms. Stumps turned into fly agarics look very bright and beautiful. This does not require any special qualifications: just take an old small basin, paint it in the appropriate red and white colors and put it on the stump.

Children's chairs, for example, are also easily made from stumps. They are made in this way: take a seat from old furniture, open it with varnish and attach it to the top of the stump using nails.

A stump in the shape of a fairytale castle will be a magnificent decoration for your personal plot. To do this, you don’t even need to peel it from the bark. The materials and tools used here are ordinary cutting board a bizarre shape or a piece of chipboard, a piece of a peeled tree trunk, moss or tow, a set for wood carving. The work is carried out in this way:

• A board or piece of chipboard is coated with a protective varnish and nailed or screwed with self-tapping screws to the cut of the stump.
• A pre-cut piece of solid wood is screwed onto this base. wooden house. Its roof is decorated by gluing moss or tow on it, and patterns are applied to the walls using a wood carving tool. After this, the structure is varnished or painted in any color you like. Then the first inhabitants are moved into the house: figures of fairy-tale characters or animals (for example, for the visual embodiment of the fairy tale “Teremok”).

The simplest ways to decorate a stump

How to decorate a tree stump in your dacha if you don’t have time for complex work like wood carving? For example, we cut off the top layer of bark, sand it and paint it in cheerful red, orange, yellow colors. After this, we cut out flowers from plastic bottles.

Then we cover them with a layer of paint and glue them to the cut and on the sides of the stump. Plants are planted around it so that such a composition looks like a real one. magical forest. Another interesting option- run a cable through the area, which is passed through a groove specially hollowed out in the stump (you should take care of good insulation), after which a light bulb is installed on the cut of the stump. This allows you to make a kind of lantern out of it. The same goal is achieved by painting the stump with luminous paint.

Tree stump table

A table made from an uprooted stump will turn out to be not only a decorative element, but also a completely functional piece of furniture for a warm family dinner in the fresh air. In the creative process, we will need a chisel, chisel or pry bar, building level, plane, sander or coarse sandpaper, chisel, furniture stands or wheels, varnish, soft abrasive cloth. Now about the process itself:

• Make sure that the stump is dry and the bark is coming away from it well, then, using a pry bar, chisel or chisel, completely remove the top layer of bark from the stump.
• Now let's start leveling the future table. Using a level, check how flat the bottom surface of the stump is. If distortions are observed, the protruding edges are ground off with a plane.
• The surface of the stump should be smooth, so it is treated with coarse sandpaper or grinder. When the cut becomes smooth and pleasant to the touch, the stump is placed on its side and sanded on all sides in the same way.
• We clean the cracks in the stump from dirt and dust with a small knife, but we try not to damage the texture of the wood, since knots and small cracks give it an original look.
• After this, we process the recesses in the stump from the inside with sandpaper and finally remove the rot using a vacuum cleaner.

• We screw furniture legs or wheels to the bottom surface of the stump, which can be easily purchased at any store. This is necessary not only for aesthetic reasons, but also to ensure good air circulation under the trunk: then it will be less susceptible to rotting.
• Then we varnish the almost finished table. After the first layer has been applied, you should wait half an hour and sand the surface with fine-grained sandpaper (preferably 320 grit size). In order for the table to last as long as possible, it is recommended to apply at least 4 layers of varnish to it, after each leaving the stump to dry for the period of time recommended by the varnish manufacturer.
• On final stage the table does not require grinding, but to get rid of strong shine, use a soft abrasive cloth, which is passed over the entire surface of the stump. Our table is ready for tea!

A simpler version of a table made from a stump does not require similar procedures and removal of the stump from the ground. It remains in the same place where it stood, but a tabletop of any shape, made independently or purchased in a store, is screwed on top of it. A pair of old wooden stools or lacquered chairs will create a unique atmosphere home comfort while relaxing at the dacha.

Instead of a tabletop, sometimes a bird drinker or feeder is installed, for which the stump serves as a stand.

Stumps from a cut tree spoil the appearance of the site and occupy the space reserved for garden beds. Getting rid of large stumps by uprooting is problematic; other methods are used for this. In this article we will tell you how to get rid of the stump of a cut tree with your own hands.

Which method should I choose for uprooting?

There are three options for stump removal:

1. Chemical – using chemicals that destroy wood.
2. Mechanical - using special equipment.
3. Physical – manual uprooting using a shovel, saw and ax.

The first method has nothing to do with uprooting. The foam is treated with reagents that lead to decomposition or combustion. The products include saltpeter, urea and table salt. Mechanical method involves the involvement of special equipment and the use of equipment. This could be a chainsaw or rental equipment such as a bulldozer, backhoe or stump grinder.

Stumps are not always removed using heavy equipment and specialists; sometimes they make do with improvised means. Let's look at the table on how to choose a stump removal method.

Way	Criterias of choice
Mechanical	Suitable for a large undeveloped area, because heavy equipment needs space to operate. This method is justified when there are a large number of stumps on the site.
Chemical	They are used in areas where planting of crops is planned in a few years; it is during this time that the stump will decompose.
	Suitable for young trees where it is convenient to dig a hole around the trunk. Used when there is a shortage of financial resources, when there is no time to wait.

When choosing a specific method, it is worth considering all the pros and cons. If you need to remove a stump immediately, but a bulldozer or excavator will not enter the area, then use a stump grinder. In a short time, nothing will remain of the stump, and the area around it will remain untouched.

Disadvantages and advantages of uprooting methods

Each of the uprooting methods has disadvantages and advantages. Let's list them in the table.

Way	Advantages	Flaws
Use of saltpeter	does not require physical effort; deep stump removal; young shoots will not germinate in the future.	the soil is saturated with the chemical; if the concentration of nitrate is exceeded, it is harmful to crops; financial costs for the purchase of chemicals.
Use of urea	minimum physical effort; there is no soil contamination with chemicals; complete stump removal.	long period of stump decomposition; high consumption of chemicals.
Salt	simple and cheap way.	long period of stump destruction
Chainsaw removal	fast and cheap way.	suitable for short-term stump removal; After a while, young shoots appear.
Attracting special equipment	helps to quickly get rid of the stump; clears the area for construction, even if there was previously a garden on the site.	financially costly method; Suitable only for spacious and free areas.
	does not require financial costs; You can get rid of a stump in a day.	labor-intensive process; lack of space to access the root system if there is a path nearby; lateral roots remain.

The method is chosen based on the size and number of stumps on the site, the presence of buildings and beds. In small garden plots, where there are vegetable beds, trees and bushes growing around, special equipment cannot be attracted, aggressive chemicals They also don’t fit, you just have to uproot them with your own hands.

Manually removing stumps from the ground

To work you will need:

• shovel, hacksaw and axe;
• In addition, for large stumps, a winch and cable are needed.

Tip #1. If you don't have a winch, borrow one from a friend. It will make it easier to pull the roots out of the soil.

Manual uprooting requires considerable physical strength, especially if a large stump is being removed.

Manual uprooting looks like this:

1. They dig up the stump in a circle, breaking up the roots with a shovel or an ax.
2. They dig 0.5 m deep. If this is not enough, continue digging, all roots are removed from the ground.
3. They tie a rope around the stump and try to pull it out using a winch. It will make the process easier if the height of the trunk is up to 1.5 m. Then the trunk is loosened, and the stump gives in to uprooting faster.

Dry stump is easier to remove. If the trunk diameter is no more than 10 cm, then use a crowbar. By striking the center of the stump with a crowbar, they split the wood into pieces, and then remove them at a depth of 15 cm underground, trying to loosen each piece of the stump. Manual uprooting includes soil erosion, but is used on sandy and clayey soils.

First, they dig around the stump, then use a hose to wash away the soil to expose the roots of the tree. When washing, you need good water pressure and a large jet, otherwise nothing will work. The exposed roots are sawed or chopped, and then the stump is removed from the ground.

Tip #2. The roots can be cut directly into the ground without exposing them. Use a tube with an ax welded to the end or a metal scrap.

Chemical stump removal on site

Saltpeter is not used for disposal of stumps that grow on peat soils, otherwise a fire will occur.

For chemical removal stumps use nitrate (potassium or sodium), urea and table salt. Applying chemical substances, no need to put in any physical effort, the reagents will do everything for you. The chemicals kill the tree's root system down to the last root, regardless of the size of the stump.

Saltpeter burns the stump along with the roots, but the substances released during combustion penetrate deep into the soil. Holes with a diameter of 1 cm and a depth of up to 40 cm are drilled on the surface of the stump, and saltpeter is poured into them. Up to 100 g of the substance is poured into each hole, and water is poured on top.

The holes are clogged wooden plugs, and the surface of the stump is covered with film so that the saltpeter is not washed away by rain. If they do this in the summer, then in the spring they burn out the stump. In the spring, the holes are uncorked and a flammable substance (kerosene or gasoline) is poured in, set on fire, and the object burns out completely. When saltpeter burns, it releases oxygen, so the flame spreads into the ground, burning out the roots of the tree.

The more holes, the faster the reagent will act.

The technique for removing a stump using urea is similar to the technology for using saltpeter, only you do not set the tree on fire and do not pour in a flammable mixture. Urea will accelerate the decomposition of the tree, after which the stump is not uprooted, but simply covered with earth. Green sprouts will not appear.

Urea is a fertilizer, so a fertile area is formed in place of the stump. The product is even used on peat soils. Coarse table salt, like urea, destroys stumps. The stump removal process looks like this:

1. In the fall, holes are drilled in the stump and salt is added. You will need up to 300 g of salt.
2. Add water to the holes.
3. The top of the stump is covered with earth.

During the winter the stump decomposes, but it is worth considering that the soil becomes saline and is not suitable for vegetable beds or flower beds for several years. A large stump is removed using herbicides. Popular ones include Roundup or Tornado. The technology is simple:

1. The top of the stump is cut down to obtain a fresh cut.
2. The product is poured onto the surface and covered with film for the winter.
3. Remove the decomposed stump after 6 months or a year.

Mechanical removal of wood debris

At mechanical removal use power tools or use machinery. If the area where the stump grows will not be used for beds or flower beds, then it is enough to cut the trunk at the root with a chainsaw. Otherwise, use a stump grinder. It destroys the stump and roots to a depth of 40 cm, and does not affect the roots of trees that are located next to the stump.

Tip #3. In spacious areas where there are more than two stumps, bulldozers or excavators are used, because renting a stump grinder is expensive.

Non-standard ways to deal with old stumps

A stump grinder is used in small areas.

Eat traditional methods uprooting, which are rarely used, but they are effective:

1. A rotten stump that grows in the middle of the garden is disposed of with water. At the beginning of winter, when frosts are expected, the stump is generously filled with water, it turns into ice and destroys the tree. In the spring, the stump will rot, and it will be pulled out of the ground without effort.
2. Plant mushroom spores in a stump. Cuts are made in the trunk and spores of oyster mushrooms or honey mushrooms are poured into them. Water it with water and wrap it in film for the winter. In the spring, the mushrooms are harvested, and in five years the stump will dry out. Afterwards it is destroyed and removed from the ground.
3. Destruction of a stump by mining machine oil. In the spring, a stump is dug around the trunk to a depth of 15 cm. Bark up to 7 cm thick is removed from the trunk. Lubricate the bark with waste machine oil and attach it back to the trunk, sprinkling it with earth. The effect is not immediately noticeable; green shoots will begin to grow, but by mid-summer they will dry out, and after a few years the stump will collapse. It becomes overgrown with fungus and the bark peels off.

Some gardeners plant young seedlings in the stumps of old trees. So they get rid of the rotten stump and its roots, and get a young tree. Young growth destroys rotten wood, which serves as fertilizer. An old stump is cut down to the root with a chainsaw, a hole is made in the trunk, filled with fertilizers and a seedling is planted.

Answers to questions about getting rid of a stump

A landscape decoration is made from a stump if it does not interfere with the garden plot.

Question No. 1. What is the best method for removing a tree stump?

Each case has its own method. Mechanical uprooting is the fastest, but most expensive. After the work of special equipment, the area needs to be put in order. In a small garden plot where there are trees, the equipment will not turn around and will not be able to work. Chemical uprooting is convenient in small areas where there are buildings and other trees, but you will have to wait a year or two.

Question No. 2. What is a stump grinder and where can I buy one?

This is a small device. With its help, stumps are uprooted and crushed. Milling reaches a depth of 30 cm. Such equipment is expensive, so it is not advisable to buy one for uprooting a stump; it is better to use rental services. You can purchase it in specialized stores that sell chainsaws and other equipment, or order it online.

Question No. 3. They dug around the stump, but there is no winch. How to pull its trunk out of the ground?

If the side roots are cut off, the post will wobble from side to side. To remove a stump from the ground, it is torn off from the main vertical root, which cannot be completely pulled out. Make sharp turns of the trunk and tilt to the sides.

Question No. 4. How long should it take after using chemicals?

The timing depends on the type of chemical. Urea permeates the tree over the winter, so when processing wood in early autumn and spring, the stump is burned out. Nitrate decomposes a tree in a year or two, depending on the size of the stump, but herbicides act faster. They kill a stump with a diameter of up to 10 cm in six months.

Question No. 5. I urgently need to get rid of a stump, what should I use?

The stump is removed within a few days using special equipment or manually. When using other means, wait at least six months.

Common mistakes when uprooting

When heavy equipment is involved, the entrance to the site is prepared.

We offer tips on how to avoid mistakes when removing a stump:

1. If the site is intended for buildings, then chemically It is advisable to use saltpeter, it acts faster than urea. But exceeding the concentration of nitrate leads to burning of the vegetation around the stump. This is taken into account when using saltpeter. It is better to use urea for beds; it produces minimal negative effects.
2. When uprooting using a winch, take precautions that most gardeners do not take into account. When removing a stump from the ground, a rope or cable can break and injure a person. The stump suddenly jumps out of the ground and can fall on a person. Move further away and take into account the flight path of the stump.
3. You should manually uproot one at a time, not a group of people at once. You can accidentally hit your assistant with an ax.